Keir Starmer and the Labour Party

[birchesgreen]

Who were your other choices?

Nandy, Cooper and then Starmer

 

[DarloRich]

Nandy, Cooper and then Starmer

other way round for me! Felt Nandy was a bit young and a bit to close to Corbyn for me.

 

[JamesT]

Nandy, Cooper and then Starmer

Wasn't it Long-Bailey rather than Cooper on the final ballot?

 

[DarloRich]

Wasn't it Long-Bailey rather than Cooper on the final ballot?

it was ( i think) but i would have preferred Cooper and she would have been my second choice.

 

[birchesgreen]

Wasn't it Long-Bailey rather than Cooper on the final ballot?

You're right i was mixing up my elections!

Nandy then Starmer, i didn't vote for Long-Bailey.

 

[nw1]

Were they vastly different? In economic terms, Blair and Brown had largely pledge to follow the Tories' existing spending constraints and were also strongly pro-free-market. The differences with the Tories, at least for the first few years after 1997, were largely to do with competence, not having a set of MPs that seemed to be continually at war with themselves, and a relatively lack of corruption scandals. Plus rhetoric that was more green-friendly. As I recall, the only significant policy differences from the Tories were Blair/Brown's commitment to introduce a minimum wage, devolution for Scotland and Wales, a settlement for peace in Northern Ireland, and moving forward on gay rights. In fact, take away those few specific policy differences (which were in any case responses to the situation in 1997 and would not be particularly relevant today) and that all looks remarkably similar to the 'change' Keir Starmer is offering today.

One important difference for me is that Labour do not appear to celebrate "anti-wokeism" in the way that many of the current iteration of the Tories do. I'm talking about the likes of Braverman, (formerly) Anderson, Gullis, Benton, Badenoch, Philip Davies, McVey, and the like - and, dare I say it, Sunak, who has promoted many reactionary right-wingers to senior positions and IMV appears to be quite right-wing himself.

Essentially, Labour for me represents Normal UK Politics from November 1990-May 2016 whereas the Tories represent something significantly to the right of that. So I'd say there's clearer ideological water between Starmer's middle-of-the-road Labour and Sunak's right-wing Tories than there was between Major and Blair (both middle-of-the-road as leaders) in 1997.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Check your constituency and see if the Lib Dems are the best way to ditch a Tory otherwise don't waste your vote.

I have a Labour & Co-Op MP.

 

[DarloRich]

I have a Labour & Co-Op MP.

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