Suspect this is not sustainable for Starmer. British public opinion is far less polarised than European public opinion and more strongly in favour of Ukraine. The PM risks ending up on the wrong side of it if he remains silent
I respect his desire to ring fence Friday evenings (Shabbat eve) but the events of today point to a need to create a way of responding to news like this on the day it happens.
The point is that the actual Jewish president of Ukraine doesn't stop for sabbat so the not-Jewish Sir Keir Starmer doesn't have much of an excuse here.
I’ve seen shots of a flurry of Tweets but didn’t spot anything from Macron. If he’s in the flurry then that looks bad but that would be my test. If Starmer, Macron and Zelensky haven’t spoken prior to their meets then that would seem remiss.
Starmer is trying to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds - he cannot succeed - hubristic bullies will force him to choose between dignity and disgrace - it would be better if he did not prolong the misery
There are other areas where not criticising Trump is entirely wise, but in public opinion terms there is no realistic constituency where Starmer stands to gain from not backing Zelenskyy here.
It is certainly a curious place to be when Jenrick and Davey are being more forceful than the PM (though I get that they have fewer other responsibilities to triangulate).
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Meanwhile Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is jewish, has been very busy rallying support.
https://bsky.app/profile/pippacrerar.bsky.social/post/3ljbdttzq4224
No point in an untethered ‘bridge’. That’s just an adrift raft.
https://bsky.app/profile/alexpartridge87.bsky.social/post/3ljbft2zpuc2w
Gosh that'll make a difference, eh?
But you can't build a bridge to a swamp.