A thread

1/ Keir Starmer celebrates his 150th day as the leader of the Labour party today. Let’s have a look at his last 50 days (a link to days 1 to 100 are in the thread below).

2/ The first 100 days of Starmer’s leadership are here: https://twitter.com/rickycoxon/status/1282800544457920515

3/ Right then, day 101 to 150. Let’s start with the Russian interference report. It was pretty damning. Basically we have no idea if the Russians are meddling in our affairs because the Gov’t and security services have deliberately looked the other way.

4/ Keir was more interested in why the Gov’t delayed the report. Missing the point is a bit of a theme of Starmer’s.
During PMQ’s, Johnson cites “legal reasons” as the cause of the delay...

5/ The hack pack and social media Keirleaders then go wild with delight when he reminds Johnson he was once a legal Wiz and Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.

6/ During that period, no criminal bankers were charged by Starmer. Neither was Tony Blair for misleading Parliament or killing 1m Iraqis. Or the police officers that killed Jean Charles de Menezes or Ian Tomlinson. Or the two MI5 officers that had been accused of torture.

7/ He did charge those involved in the 2011 London riots and anti-austerity protesters though. Very establishment energy.

8/ Starmer then decides to use approx £750,000 of membership fees to settle out of court with 7 former staff members that had accused the party of defamation during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

9/ The 7 are on the right of the party and were accused of making up stuff about antisemitism.

10/ Lawyers defending the party had previously advised that they “had a very strong defence” and that the Party had a high chance of winning. I guess Starmer didn’t want any skullduggery or truth coming out in court.

11/ Moving on. A poll completed in July suggests that 72% of the public wants to give NHS and care workers a substantial pay rise as a means of saying thank you. Matt Handjob says absolutely not. Keir remained quiet on that one – you’ll see this is another theme of his.

12/ At the end of July, the nation’s focus is moved towards the economy and Starmer launches his very first 3-word slogan (his focus groups must have told him these are very popular in England).

13/ Rather than 3 different words though, he goes with 1 word repeated 3 times. “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” he repeats. Over and over again. No one listens. Again, kinda missing the point.

14/ The leader does manage to get one thing right and delivers absolutely no substance to back-up the slogan. So I guess he’s figured that bit out.

15/ Also at the end of July, Starmer demands the Gov’t do more for the UK’s struggling tourist industry. This has nothing to do with the fact he’s just broken up from Parliament for 5 weeks and everywhere is fully booked. Absolutely nothing. Honest.

16/ Finally, we finish July with the Govt’s local shutdown of a number of northern towns in England. The announcement came on Twitter at 11pm the night before Eid al-Adha – a Muslim celebration equivalent to Christmas. Data supporting this decision seems questionable.

17/ The locked-down Towns have high Muslim populations. Tory supporters and racist trolls on social media rejoiced in their misfortune. Starmer remained silent on the matter – I guess his focus groups told him that punishing Muslims would win over those voters or something.

18/ August begins and a sitting male Tory MP is arrested on suspicion of rape. The tories protect his identity and allow him to continue to work in Westminster.

19/ You guessed it, Starmer keeps schtum and instead visits a brewery and a ceramics factory for yet another photo opportunity. He likes those.

20/ Starmer did find some time to condemn some racist abuse that Twitter trolls have been sending to Labour MP and Blairite David Lammy.

21/ He’s not yet found time to even acknowledge the fact that Labour MP and socialist Diane Abbott receives 10x times the racist abuse of any other MP combined.

22/ During August, a few dozen refugees and asylum seekers are spotted trying to cross the English Channel in rubber dinghies. Obviously, the Gov’t did the sensible, pragmatic, rational thing and deployed Navy battleships and created a “clandestine channel threat commander”.

23/ I assume those focus groups advised Keir to just subtly criticise the Gov’t so he retweeted an angry letter from a fellow MP that asked the home secretary about the legal advice she had received so far. Well, he is a lawyer after all.

24/ We also found out that the UK has officially entered a recession. The economy has shrunk by -20.4%, the largest fall in history. Gov’t borrowing has also hit £2trillion for the first time.

25/ Did Starmer suggest a debt cancellation? Or Universal Basic Income? Or Quantitative Easing for the people? A rethink about central banking? Rent and utility bill protections? Or some other radical overhaul of the nation’s macroeconomics?

26/ No. He asked if the Gov’t could be “flexible with furlough”. That sounds like the time my mum couldn’t afford to pay the Radio Rentals man.

27/ Over 75’s lost their free TV licence in August. So Keir decides to do a few TV interviews. He does a few newspaper columns too. Frankly, these go down like a turd on a water slide.

28/ First, he writes in the Daily Mail (more on that later) then, on channel 4 news, he says he would welcome an endorsement from the S*n newspaper. Both papers are known for their extreme right-wing stances, lies, anti-socialist agendas and outright racism.

29/ The interviewer doesn’t question the fact that in January, whilst in Liverpool mounting his leadership bid, Starmer said he “certainly won’t be giving any interviews to The S*n”.

30/ Labour MP and socialist Ian Byrne said “Just for the avoidance of any doubt I believe with every fibre in my soul that any member of the Labour Movement should never write in or seek the patronage of the S*n”. Hear, hear, Ian.

31/ In the same interview, Starmer says “you can’t lose an election as badly as we did in December and carry on as if everything is fine.”

32/ Critics argue that Labours Brexit stance of “2nd referendum and remain” was the major cause of that loss. Starmer still wants a 2nd referendum and to remain in the EU. This looks suspiciously like carrying on as if everything is fine. But what do I know?

33/ In the fascism supporting Daily Mail, Starmer writes “I don’t just want all our children back in school, I expect it. No ifs, no buts”.

34/ Quick reminder on schools then: there is still no functioning Track & Trace programme for the start of term; Gov’t instructions at the time are that no-one must wear a face covering and corridors are magic so social distancing in them isn’t needed;

35/ Teaching unions and parents still think it is unsafe.

36/ A few days later, the independent SAGE group say “for the last couple of weeks the figures seem to quite definitively show that we are really experiencing a substantial increase in numbers.” and then 22 teachers at a single school in Scotland become infected.

37/ Starmer forensically analyzes all this information and says “I want to see children back at school next month and I expect the Prime Minister to deliver on that commitment”. That’s some 2020 chaotic energy right there.

38/ Then we hit the exam u-turn fiasco. Starmer says pretty much nothing about the Gov’t exam grade plans in the entire 5-month run-up to results day, then offers up a bit of subtle criticism on the actual day.

39/ Tens of thousands of students organise themselves into a mass protest over the weekend along with their angry parents writing to their backbench MPs demanding action; Teaching unions hit every TV show;

40/ the SNP offer a full apology and u-turn in Scotland; Northern Ireland Executive follow suit on Sunday night…
The Gov’t and Ofqual are pressured to back down and perform a full u-turn on moderated exam grades in England and Wales.

41/ Predictably, Sir Keir Starmer claims the victory for himself.

42/ So a Labour councillor from Liverpool points out “this is a grassroots victory” and calls him a “Brylcreemed shitehawk”. I snorted at that one.

43/ It seems Sir Keir’s “forensic” political strategy is to a) broadly agree with the Tories b) offer subtle & apologetic criticism c) if policy succeeds then take credit d) if policy fails, offer to help e) if Tories u-turn then take full credit.

44/ Interestingly, Starmer doesn’t demand that education secretary Gavin Williamson is sacked. Which is only reasonable as he didn’t call Maxine Peake an absolute diamond after all.

45/ Also in August, the world-famous Tate Gallery announces 300 redundancies after receiving a £7m Gov’t bailout. Former leader and socialist Jeremy Corbyn stands outside with the protesting workers in solidarity.

46/ Keir totally ignores this but a quick reminder here that he did appoint Rachael Reeves to his cabinet who once said “we don’t want to be seen, and we are not, the party to represent those who are out of work”.

47/ At the same time, a report is published that indicates many employers committed fraud as 6m workers continued to work whilst their employer also illegally claimed furlough payments.

48/ Various hack-pack articles heavily imply this was all the employee’s fault and they were somehow gaining from this despite the Gov’t furlough scheme being paid to their bosses.

49/ Not wanting to upset unscrupulous big businesses, Keir obviously remains tight-lipped on all of this.

50/ The rest of August is a confusing array of events, quite frankly. A few decades ago any one of these events would have caused ministers to resign and Gov’ts to fall. Keir followed his strategy of remaining quiet, broadly agreeing, and sometimes offering subtle criticism e.g.

51/ Over £1b was handed out in state contracts, under emergency powers with no tender process, some to firms linked directly to Tory MPs...

52/ The tories also claim £15b has been spent on PPE (that’s a whopping £75 per day, per worker) with many of the PPE contracts going to dodgy doners and mates of the Tories.
Keir Starmer: …

53/ Public Health England was scrapped in the midst of a major pandemic.
Keir Starmer: …

54/ Dido Harding, failed CEO, former horse jockey, daughter of a hereditary peer, and friend of Matt CockHands is appointed head of the replacement public health body. She has no medical or health experience whatsoever.
Keir Starmer: …

55/ You aren’t supposed to know this but Starmer’s largest funder for his leadership bid was a hedge-fund manager called Martin Taylor. He has a £10m stake in United Health – a US private healthcare company with £1b worth of contracts for the NHS.

56/ Also, Starmer’s Communication’s Director is Benn Nunn. He used to be a private healthcare lobbyist for Virgin and Circle.
Keir Starmer: …

57/ Then the Prime Minister disappears off the face of the Earth during a major pandemic, apparently on holiday for the 5th time this year, there is a massive recession happening and a Brexit no-deal looming over us in 4 months time…
Keir Starmer: …

58/ A major report is published that highlights that the Conservative Party used “disinformation tactics with a new level of impunity” during last year’s general election.

59/ Critics even suggest a “massive online psyops campaign” was implemented on the citizens of the UK by firms linked to Dominic Cummings and the Tory party…
Keir Starmer: …

He doesn’t say very much, does he?

60/ Throughout most of August, Israel bombs Gaza. No-one is really sure why. It appears to be over some balloons. Yes, that’s right, balloons. No-one really talks about it so we don’t know.

61/ No-one really condemns the Israeli Gov’t for attacking a sovereign nation and killing civilians over some balloons. Some small protests are organised around the UK…

62/ Keir Starmer: ... (he has accepted £50k from an Israeli lobbyist and previously agreed to a definition of antisemitism that included criticism of the state of Israel and once declared “I support Zionism without qualification” so that might explain why).

63/ Speaking of antisemitism, the investigation into the report that proved the Labour-right had sabotaged Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership by deliberately mishandling complaints has been kicked into the long grass and won’t see the light of day until at least the end of 2020.

64/ Keir has said nothing about this report since it first came out in April.

65/ Whilst the country is distracted by COVID and the ongoing Gov’t omnishambles, it was revealed that a total of £8.3 billion in aggregate short positions on a no-deal Brexit has been taken out by hedge funds linked to Johnson’s leadership campaign, Vote Leave, or both.

66/ They are betting that the UK economy spectacularly crashes.
So imagine knowing that over £250k was donated to Starmer’s recent leadership bid by hedge-fund managers, financiers and bankers. Keir kept very quiet on this one.

67/ In order to distract the nation (again) and rile up their nationalistic voter base, the Tories make up some non-story about “Land of Hope and Glory” not being sung at the audience-less proms (erm?). #Promgate rolls on for 4 days.

68/ Starmer, obviously taking advice from those focus groups again, does his usual: broadly agrees with the Tories, then offers a bit of subtle and apologetic criticism towards the non-story.

69/ By late August, it is revealed that the UK has the most excess deaths per million people (950 per million) AND the largest forecast loss of GPD (-11.5%) than any other country in the World. Who said we aren’t World-beating?

70/ So then it makes sense that a poll shows 49% of the public disapprove in the Gov’t right now and only 29% approve. Right? Surely, that will boost Starmer?

71/ Of the 13 official polls conducted in August, Labour is behind in 12 of them, on average they trail -6% behind the Tories. In fact, just 1 single poll this year puts the Tories and Labour on a tie… a tie!

72/ So naturally, the bluetick, FBPE, centrist, Blairite, Lib Dem, small-c conservative political commentators ignore every bit of evidence and spend all day telling us how wonderful Starmer is doing.

73/ The next day, Jeremy Corbyn wins a poll of the “the greatest Prime Minister that Britain never had” and he’s also on track to win “Politician of the Year”. That same hack-pack call these polls ‘rigged’.

74/ Fed up with a bland and pointless opposition, a #StarmerOut trend started circulating on social media throughout late August. This greatly upset the Labour-right, Lib Dems and the small-c Conservatives who had been calling for Corbyn to get out for the last 5 years.

75/ Apparently, it’s that hashtag, and my fault for not getting behind Starmer, that Labour aren’t +20pts ahead in the polls and has absolutely nothing to do with any single one of the other points mentioned in this thread.