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Keir Starmer – a principle-free zone
With right-wing Labour all but guaranteed to win the next general election, we need to turn apathy into anger, argues CHELLEY RYAN
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Labour leader Keir Starmer discuss politics during the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain Conference in central London, July 18, 2023

KEIR STARMER is the luckiest political leader in history. Or is he the most conniving and ruthless? I actually think both are true. 

Like Tony Blair, Starmer is the beneficiary of an imploding Tory Party, general good timing and an exhausted general public desperate for change, no matter how modest. Unlike Blair, Starmer literally threw a general election using a mixture of political guile, manipulation and ruthlessness to put an end to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. He then lied with aplomb to win over the Labour membership to ensure his election as leader.

That’s why for me, Starmer is the worst Labour leader in the party’s history. The most despicable and the most dangerous. He is not the spawn of Blair. He is actually worse than Blair and I say that as someone who despises Blair. He’s certainly more dishonest. He manages to make Boris Johnson look like a man of honesty and integrity.

The man is a con-artist and a narcissist who lives for his own personal glory at all costs. He is a principle-free zone.

For those still considering voting Labour at the next general election out of a sense of panic at the prospect of another five years of this disastrous Tory government I say this — Labour has it in the bag. It’s not so much about whether it will win the next general election, but by how large a margin. We are without doubt in majority territory now.

The left who see right through Starmer, and the majority of vile Labour MPs for that matter, owe it to themselves to avoid voting Labour. The only exception would be if their local MP or candidate is a socialist MP who has been a vociferous critic of Starmer and defender of Jeremy Corbyn, a man of great honour, honesty and principle, who has been treated abysmally by his machiavellian successor. 

If their local parliamentary candidate falls short of those standards, they should cast their vote elsewhere and always for the most socialist option at their disposal.

After Starmer wins the general election, the left must be ready to hold his feet to the fire in a way they never did under Blair. Disenchantment will likely set in after the initial honeymoon period due to Labour’s commitment to further austerity — or as Robotic Reeves calls it, ironclad fiscal responsibility. 

Younger voters will recall the excitement and hope of the Corbyn era and wonder where they can turn to next after Starmer’s Labour deflates their hopes. 

The Reform party will be banging the blame immigration drum louder and louder and Labour and the Tory Party will both move further to the right to keep chasing the same votes. The disenchanted and disenfranchised will grow in number and Reform will do their damnedest, with the help of a gleeful Establishment, to win them over.

If the left want to compete, they will need some bloody big hitters like Corbyn and Diane Abbott to start a new party or join an existing one, to put a rocket under it.

Some on the left have always talked about building slowly and building with care. And I appreciate the sentiment. Unfortunately human nature needs hope to motivate it to do anything, especially when most people are as beaten down as they are now. We need to turn apathy into anger and then direct it at the right people — a greedy, self interested Establishment both within and outside of the Labour Party.

Harness that anger, give them real hope with a credible socialist alternative, and the despicable, dishonest Starmer won’t be able to carve more than one general election victory on his bed post.

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