Millions fewer people turned out to make Keir Starmer Prime Minister than turned out to attempt the same for Jeremy Corbyn. That is the most important fact of this election, and the one the mainstream media works hardest to hide.
TOTAL LABOUR VOTE
Corbyn 2017: 12,877.918
Corbyn 2019: 10,269,213
Starmer 2024: 9,634,399
I don’t think any Prime Minister has ever come to power with less popular enthusiasm than Keir Starmer.
Here in Blackburn we had an astonishing result. I was working on projections which had the Labour vote falling from 29,000 to 15,000 which seemed amazing enough. Although on the doorstep the Labour vote seemed extremely soft, I didn’t imagine it could fall from 29,000 to 10,000 in one election.
This is even more extraordinary because the sitting MP, Kate Hollern, was standing again and during the entire campaign I never heard a bad word against her.
The Labour vote collapsed for two reasons. Firstly because of Starmer’s ardent zionism and the genocide in Gaza. Secondly because Blackburn is a town with a strong socialist tradition, which held entirely firm for Corbyn when the red wall collapsed in 2019.
It is fair to say that Gaza caused the Labour vote to collapse in the Muslim areas and that Labour’s extreme switch to the Thatcherite right caused the Labour vote to collapse in the (there is no good way to say this) white areas. But it is important to realise that there is community crossover on both issues.
While there was concern that “vote-splitting” of the pro-Palestinian vote would let Labour back in, in the end Labour just collapsed too far and in fact the mechanism was more complicated than that.
Very little of Adnan Hussain’s vote came from the “white” areas. I personally witnessed the counting of one ward in the south of the constituency where he only got 2 votes but I got 120, in a ward normally entirely Labour. In fact my ability to take “white” socialist or protest votes from Labour allowed Adnan Hussain in.
I have published my doubts about some of the figures behind Adnan. I sincerely hope he will now prove me wrong and become a formidable opponent to Starmer, particularly over Palestine.
Allow me to say I thought we did brilliantly to get over 7,000 votes. Only 5 weeks ago we had only Naila, myself and one local man who wished to be anonymous. We had no office, no money except what you readers crowdfunded, no party members and no contacts.
From that standing start we wrote, designed, printed and delivered 170,000 leaflets, held five great public meetings and spoke to thousands of voters. We had 80 volunteers working really hard by the end. 30 came from Blackburn and others from 13 different countries!!
Our opponents had well-established networks of supporters and activists. At times our campaign was enormously stressful, at times enormously fun. I must confess I found some of the personal and religious bigotry thrown at me hard to cope with at times.
Well, that is over. The voter turnout in Blackburn was a horribly low 53%. In an election where only 3 million people could bother to watch a Sunak/Starmer TV “debate” that was a race for the right-wing ground, the foundations of Starmer’s apparently huge mandate are very shaky indeed.
Watch this space.
I am exhausted today – obviously more developed thoughts will follow.
A vote total that is even more damning when you consider the intense support Starmer has enjoyed from all the establishment elements that strove to destroy Corbyn. Has a political leader ever been given an easier ride by the media?
Indeed. I noticed that the BBC continued, right up to the end, to list Lab’s total as 35%, even though it was clearly 33.8. I don’t know what they expect to achieve by this deceit, maybe giving the false appearance that he had beaten the 2019 result? I hate to see Labour win, but it was great to see Tories lose this bad. I’ve reconciled myself to the “evil empires: one down, one to go” scenario. 2024 for the Tory reckoning, 2029 for the Labour one. Speed the day, I’m not getting any younger.
The counts of small parties and independents cause Wikipedia not to produce total turnout, but from the numbers posted (for parties and independents with 500+ vote), Labour got 34.07% of the turnout. Perhaps those details will be settled tomorrow.
Well done, Craig & supporters. That was close.
What the hell would have happened elsewhere without Reform splitting the unspeakables’ vote?
80% of the electorate, did not vote Labour.
Sir Starmer’s vote share even went down in his constituency?
– “80% of the electorate, did not vote Labour.”
That includes me. Are you pissed off? I’m pissed off!
Protest tomorrow! – Details in my comment below.
Was Starmer the first Prime Minister whose personal vote fell in his own constituency?
Without checking, I think it likely that Mr Sunak was in the same boat.
Rejection is the word. But then, since we all know we’re now living under the tyranny of the Uniparty, what difference exactly does it make whether this tyranny is called Sunakism or Starmerism?
Meanwhile, all our sympathy goes to Corbyn, who has not always been very popular on this blog, but had at least the privilege to be standing next to Craig in The Hague. Something to remember.
Congratulations on your performance.
I will fondly remember coming up the office stairs and being greeted by you. “Hello Matt”. I was thrilled. Some say you shouldn’t meet your heroes but on this occasion I am very glad that I did. Thanks Craig.
Well done Craig. Julian is free and the election is over; have a well earned rest.
– “If you want something done properly, you must do it yourself.”
I know Craig won’t agree, but “representative democracy” is clearly failing us. The age of politics-as-spectator-sport, the age of taking sides, arguing and very occasionally voting, the age of “seeking power” – must end.
So join us on Saturday in London. Time to Assemble – for Palestine:
https://timetoassemble.org/6th-july/
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/national-march-for-palestine-stop-the-genocide-stop-arming-israel/
Britain isn’t any sort of democracy.
…hence the scare quotes!
My sentence was ambiguous. Craig isn’t keen on us the public doing democracy for ourselves; he thinks we need to be represented by the “right” sort of people. I think the conquest for power that necessitates will always ensure the “wrong” sort of people, and the representatives always become a magnet for lobbying and corruption. But hey; most systems have at least two houses!
“hence the scare quotes!”
Good lad.
It’s complicated. If by “us the public doing democracy for ourselves” you mean the readers of Mr Murray’s blog, perhaps that reflects badly on the system; many if not most commenters seem to have a sincere interest in UK politics and at least some knowledge. Even so, most of us have only very partial or specialised knowledge.
If “us the public” refers to the whole electorate, that’s rather different. As Plato reports Socrates asking, would you embark on a sea voyage on a ship manned by amateurs who know nothing of sailing or navigation? Yet governing a large nation is vastly more demanding than sailing a ship.
It is, sort of, 0.05% of the time.
Take a well deserved break and don’t fret too much over the result. I suspect the next term in Westminster will be a fraught affair indeed and for the sake of your health and sanity, you may come to realise the outcome was a blessing.
I concur with many contributors that this country – in tandem with many others – is heading rapidly towards social, economic and ecological collapse. There is no acknowledgement of the problems facing us, never mind any plans to mitigate the impact. Starmer may think he is in “power”, but unless he has some sort of miraculous enlightenment – that notion will change very soon.
All the best.
You could use non-Muslim rather than “White” (some of them might be black, brown or yellow).
Instead of saying “white” areas, CM could also have said “traditional” or “heartland” Labour-voting areas, and that would have been understood by commenters to cover communities of mixed ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds in Blackburn who have always voted for British Labour.
Actually, I feel that Mr Murray’s use of “white” sounds apologetic – for which there is no need. Granted that most of us “white” people are only very approximately white – more pink with brown patches of various shades owing to sun exposure – the term is generally understood and quite acceptable as long as it is used in a purely descriptive way.
It is a very bad precedent indeed to allow oneself to be denied the use of appropriate words and phrases on account of other people’s ignorance or prejudice. I could cite an example which is very much to the point, but I am fairly sure the moderators would disallow it for exactly the reasons I deplore.
I’ve watched the results avidly throughout the night and, after some sleep this morning, continued to watch coverage until about an hour ago. I have attempted, in an amateurish way, to crunch numbers and look at why the results fell the way they did. Labour got their landslide but at the lowest end of all the predictions. They did this by increasing the vote by 0.5% in England (Scottish & Welsh seats were, as usual, unnecessary to their win) They rode high with low support and ONLY managed to win the election for one single reason. That reason was the Reform Party. They successfully split the Tory vote in enough seats to allow Labour to get in. AFAIK approximately two thirds of the seats lost by the Tories were lost in this way (i.e. vote splitting) and enough of those seats went to Labour to confirm this theory. As I say this is very amateurish and may not be completely accurate but Labour have much less popularity than their landslide would suggest. This could mean they don’t get to serve a second term..
To kill the uniparty one of it’s two main factions needs to be picked off. If the Tories die, Labour could soon follow.
I’m not particularly inclined to trust Farage or Reform UK, but they did God’s work in buggering up the tribal Tory vote.
Plus the seemingly personal animosity between newly elected MP Nigel Farage and disgraced tabloid columnist Alexander “Boris” Johnson. Is entertaining as hell,
I hope Farage if only for the sake of his own ego. Is persistent in fully turning right-wing opinion hostile to that vile, bloated, flatulance spewing, fleshbag. Johnson needs to be hounded entirely out of British public life, as Blair should’ve been fifteen years ago.
Of course the premise of if any prospective replacement of the current main parties, prove any more effective, honest and principaled than the current shower ‘o’ bastards. Remains to be seen.
Lastly, seeing the Starmar triumph abruptly turn to s**r and the sequels of indignation, from twatish “centrist” boot-lickers like James O’Brien.
At the ingratitude of the unwashed hoi polloi, over what the “good people” have “done” for “them”. Will be grimly funny. Even as the piggish, balding bum-fluff bearded propagandist takes his unearthed pay, for his unproductive “labour”.
“I’m not particularly inclined to trust Farage or Reform UK…”
Quite rightly, To quote one of the most respected (even worshipped) American politicians,
“Politicians [are] a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men”.
– Abraham Lincoln (speech in Illinois Legislature 1837)
However, I voted for Reform – although I did feel very much like Charlie Brown running in to kick the football yet again.
https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/Football_gag
As it transpired, there was no need to fear. Five “untouchable” MPs will not accomplish much – even if Mr Speaker allows them to say anything.
“Johnson needs to be hounded entirely out of British public life…”
Most Russian, and many Ukrainian, people would grimly agree. If not for Mr Johnson, the fighting in Ukraine would have ended in a peace treaty over two years ago. Since when hundreds of thousands of people have died.
Mr Johnson is as responsible for those deaths as Mr Blair and Mr George W Bush for the over 3 million deaths in Iraq. Yet such beings are still dominant in UK politics, wealthy and respected.
You should be proud of what you have achieved here and with your endless work to help free Assange.
From what you have said I imagine your diary is nice and empty now, with no Julian to fight for and no constituents to represent.
Be sure to relax and spend time with family and friends, and fully recharge and recover.
I must admit that in the polling station where I live, holding the pencil, just for a moment, I was tempted to vote for Starmer, to have the satisfaction of being on the winning side. But then I remembered the reasons why I was not voting for him. Starmer had said that cutting off the water supply to Gaza was legal. Approving a war crime (collective punishment) is just not on, even if Starmer back-pedalled later. The Greens are not the Workers’ party, but their policies were the closest I could find to my sympathies. So I put an X next to the Green candidate, knowing full well that the Labour candidate would 99% likely win (he did). My only satisfaction would be knowing that I was part of the Green vote, and taking satisfaction from the increase in Green MPs from 1 to 4!
Don’t forget to decrypt your Blackburn election prediction of 24 May:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/05/craig-murray-blackburn-election-fund/comment-page-1/#comment-1060916
My prediction was wrong. It was made before Adnan Hussain stood. The decrypted message (Playfair cipher, key “russian card player”, after some tidying) said “You haven’t a hope of overturning a majority over 60%. You will do a repeat of your previous try in Blackburn. You will lose your deposit.”
The first sentence was wrong, because Kate Hollern’s majority was overthrown, and therefore clearly it was possible (and Craig might have done it, had AH not stood). The second sentence was wrong, because Craig’s try was stronger this time. That made the third sentence also wrong – because he retained his deposit.
So, my apologies. The seat formerly held by Jack Straw wasn’t as impregnable as I imagined.
I have a couple of questions, but I don’t want to clutter up this first page of comments, so I’ve replied to your 24 May comment.
It’s easier if you use a website – I’ve put the details with the solution at that date replying to your q.
In 2017 Corbyn got over 33% more votes than Starmer, despite our population being higher and the Tories even more unpopular now.
In 2019 Corbyn got over 6% more votes than Starmer, despite sabotage from most Labour MPs and the Party’s HQ and relentless anti-semitism smears in the MSM whenever an election was imminent. Those same MPs like to remind us that that was the worst Labour result since the 1930’s!
Despite massive Tory unpopularity (24%), turnout was the second worst since 1885.
Labour’s landslide is built on sand; it has no popular mandate (34% of the 60% who actually voted, i.e. approx. 20% of all voters). Starmer will face opposition from Corbyn on the left and Farage on the right, not to mention the Greens and LibDems. The next GE will be interesting…
In the meantime we face an elective dictatorship (size of majority, 3 line whip) to rival Thatcher’s. Two silver linings are Corbyn giving Labour a bigger than expected F*** You and watching the Tory press wail about our lack of PR 😀
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2x0g8nkzmzo
Labour has it coming, and it’s going to be glorious. The price tag is having to live through five years of Reeve, Streeting, Lammy and Starmer. God almighty.
Well, we can all hope the Brotherhood of Nod. Hacks into an orbiting ion cannon for use in a false flag attack. Whilst Westminster is packed.
That’d deal with it.
Of course then we’d be at the utter mercy of local councils or devolved parliaments…
Sparticus, you write that “Labour’s landslide is built on sand; it has no popular mandate (34% of the 60% who actually voted, i.e. approx. 20% of all voters).” Its rather less than that after the effects of tactical voting are taken into account. YouGov* survey five days ago identified ‘Change Labour’ as a significant net beneficiary of the tactical vote, amplifying their base 29% of votes cast to 37% after ‘churn’.
Thats about one in six of the population as ‘Change Labour’ supporters (TBF, compare to Tories who have one in twelve support before tactical support, a sliver more than Reform, themselves a sliver more than Green).
In total, the main Parliamentary Parties (Labour, Tory, Lib Dem) have popular support from 58% of voters, 35% of the eligible voters. This yields them 92% of the Parliamentary seats.
This is the Parliament that gives legitimacy to the UK government. A ‘supermajority’ (to coin a phrase) of 65% either have no significant representation, or no representation at all. In anticipation of the reflex objection, they have no representation because they can find no party that adequately represents their views, politics and values. That is not their failure, thats the failure of the system.
The massive distortions of FPTP are frankly no longer viable, if Parliamentary democracy is to survive in the UK.
I would add that the principle reason for the non formation of new parties is due to oligopolistic media ownership, but I’ll save all that for another day!
*You Gov: One in five voters say they are voting tactically at the 2024 general election (1st July 2024)
Well done sir.
A brilliant result against all odds.
I agree you’ve had votes from ALL demographics.
Well done to them!
I’ve posted enough on numbers today.
So won’t again.
The country has had selected an emperor with no clothes
He will now display them.
JC won once, twice and now thrice.
That means we aren’t completely beyond helping ourselves.
I wish you rest and recouparation
Take a few months off. Maybe longer.
Thank you CM.
“ we aren’t completely beyond helping ourselves”
This is true only if we are able to unify and not let our enemies divide us
Well done for trying to make a difference, Craig. I hope you will now have a rest.
A cunning plan for the next such occasion is to stand in the Speaker’s seat. That would show all due respect to the Westminster “game” and get a great deal of attention and hence a platform for telling the truth about Scotland’s position under the Union.
I have said for some years that Scottish independence parties should stand in England. Being an in-Scotland-only party allows the BBC and media to ignore our existence.
“ that Scottish independence parties should stand in England”
I would vote for that
A “Northern League” with a boundary somewhere round Staffordshire
You did an outstanding job Craig, well done.
Well done to you and the team for a remarkable campaign.
A True Warrior You and Nevermind My heart is with you
Congratulations on the results you achieved in the election, given the resources you had and what you were up against. That’s a tremendous effort you and your people put in.
Now it’s time for you to have a break, get rested and get your health and life back again!
Still don´t underestimate Starmer. He destroyed Labour while Corbyn considered him a friend.
These people are the worst.
Think of Merkel. The people underestimated her too.
I only see a massive economic crisis as a condition to topple Starmer. A crisis that is beyond Labour´s limited means as a party to counter.
In order to undermine any possible resistance they will do everything to abuse the immigration topic.
Something that even on spaces like this one is being picked up on.
Number two will be the war/anti-BRICS agenda.
And people´s breaking point is a very resilient spot.
The one single most important goal should be higher voter turn-out. Which is hard to do. The US parties manage to accomplish that sometimes in unexpected regions.
Don´t know about GB.
But key is to convince and remind people of the fact that there is hope and that things can be changed.
Starmerians selected candidates with utmost care, apparently, so I do not expect internal split in Labour that could cause another early election. Moreover, Sunak (and his Tory predecessors) decreased the popular expectation of what the government can do.
yes
Of course it´s absurd that a party will rule with around 1/5th of the vote of the entirety of eligible voters.
The group of those who abstained is bigger than the one determining the government´s policy.
Er, strictly speaking no one and nothing determines the government’s policy except what comes up their back. Manifestos and campaign promises mean absolutely nothing.
That is why “representative democracy” has nothing in common with democracy, and “liberal” Western nations are at least as authoritarian as Russia, China, Iran, etc.
Every few years such a fraction of the voters as could be bothered to leave home vote for the candidate of their choice. Those elected then proceed to Westminster where they do exactly as they please.
Such elections would have any meaning only if MPs were honest and kept their promises, or if there were some mechanism for punishing MPs and parties that knowingly and deliberately break their promises.
At least Edmund Burke was honest in his Address to the Electors of Bristol 250 years ago, when he made it crystal clear that if elected he would not feel bound to pay any attention to what his constituents wanted.
https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch13s7.html
Very much inclined to agree. Yes, the idea that Starmer’s purely technical ‘victory’ somehow makes him ‘less amenable to evil’ when the system also rewards that damp squib victory with a stratospherically unassailable parliamentary rubber stamp, Plus his own brutalist Stalinesque tactics having ruthlessly *and consciously* purged ‘his’ party of any and all genuinely Labour figures who might have been able to split that majority in crucial votes over Palestine, the NHS or World War III, is an illusion. But here’s the chilling thing for me: As I was watching that curiously ineffectual victory speech of his before the door of number 10, observing, as we all were doing, I have no doubt, with almost a kind of disbelief, the very curious spectacle of this proven political thug coming over so very much like an uncomfortable second rate schoolboy out of his comfort zone delivering platitudes by rote like a prefect without any sense of conviction, I couldn’t quite put my finger on how or why, or what it might mean in whatever there is to come on the horizon, but I suddenly had a very strong and very distinct image of the Lord of the Flies. Not really a clear picture, more just an ominous and unclear feeling… A distinct instinct this might not bode well for anyone caught up in whatever games might be about to cometely needlessly unfold next, himself included.
“ I suddenly had a very strong and very distinct image of the Lord of the Flies”
I have to ask:do you mean “the Lord of the Flies” the book written by William Golding?
Or the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub?
Book. I was meaning the book. Definitely the book! Don’t ask me to explain. It’s just the image that struck me.
You don’t need to explain – I was just taking in the image you present and needed a little clarification – thanks.
Every “Lord of the Flies” story needs a “Piggy”. Would that be the hapless British population?
As I recall Kerensky was a barrister and a man of straw, like Starmer – a “democratic” sop to the restless masses.
“I only see a massive economic crisis as a condition to topple Starmer. A crisis that is beyond Labour´s limited means as a party to counter.”
There should be one coming along in the next two years. That is the only good thing about Starmer’s win: when the shit hits the fan, he’ll be standing right in front of it.
My theory, highly speculative, is that Sunak followed “brilliant” strategy of passing the torch of carrying establishment (ruling class if you will) policy to Labour by convincingly collapsing Tories and calling early election, giving no time to the malcontents of the present order to organize and perhaps form solid tactical alliances. Deep collapse of Tories and Tory/Reform competition for votes allowed Starmer to engage in pre-election purges with minor penalty in the count of seats that were won.
Of course, the problem with this brilliant strategy is wider disenchantment and more organized opposition next time, but at this stage, establishment works with one manipulation at the time, so next time they may have another set of faces and “ideas”.
I would appreciate a comment on the collapse of SNP and voters turning to Labour rather than Alba.
Is it possible that Sunak simply didn´t like the job?
I always had the impression that he is way too much a nice guy privately to do this kind of thing.
Only forcing himself.
He is a billionaire. So why do that to himself?
He doesn´t even have some of the Marxist ideals that push people.
Or those of the US Neocon brand.
I think minus that wealth Sunak could be a nice neighbour.
Starmer on the other hand is a lawyer. With human rights n´stuff.
And then helping bend those rights.
That guy´s a believer.
Not good. Otherwise he would have never held out this long next to Corbyn waiting for his moment to come and ambush him.
In more decent times playwrights used to do popular plays about this kind of people.
If Mr Sunak were a nice guy, he wouldn’t be in politics. Nor in the “Conservative” Party. And, in particular, he would not have stood for election as party leader.
Incidentally, not many billionaires are nice guys. The roles may overlap very slightly on a Venn diagram, but barely.
My theory is that landslides are a disaster for everyone. The winners become arrogant and mire and more isolated and think they are invincible. This is particularly so with conservatives who think they are born to rule and who have the press and establishment’ backing. For the oppressed losers landslides produce a tunnel vision and a focus on the wrong issues. The FPTP system in this country encourages these landslides even with the backing of a minority.
Well done. You would make a great MP.
Craig Murray, you are brilliant!
You are our voice! Potent and efficient.
Craig, your success is our success!
A few points; firstly I reiterate my congratulations (from the last post) on having done so well as an independent. I reckon if you have a third go at some point, you will be successful! 😝
Second, do please let us know the state of campaign finances. Is the campaign in debt, or did it stay within its means? (I rather worried you would self-fund it, even though you need income for your general human rights work, and to keep you writing).
Finally, shall you pop to see your recently released friend in Australia? I should think it would be a tonic for both of you.
A short assessment of the election by German daily “Junge Welt” that basically agrees with everything Craig says above.
As already the title indicates:
“Triumph for Corbyn”
https://archive.is/7t894
“Because of Starmer’s staunch support for the Gaza war, Labour lost many votes to independent candidates from the Muslim community, who even won direct seats in four constituencies and stole votes from Labour in a number of other constituencies.”
p.s. in German MSM naturally Starmer is regarded as the shining star but on a very superficial level. After all what do Germans know about GB (which they wouldn´t already know from their own home? No money, deteriorating health care system and transport and educational system, senselesse mafia-like elites, insane war-spending, the only few positive developments food from India and Pakistan.)
Stole votes? Interesting misconception. Votes are lent for a duration and not owned by those you vote for.
SA
That´s an error of the automated translation which shows you how underdeveloped this software still is:
The original word being “abspenstig machten” – there is no adequate English term I would know of. It means that they turned the voters against their own former vote. Took the voters´ sympathies away from Labour.
So yes, “steal” is total nonsense.
You did well Craig, a very worthy effort. You campaigned on behalf of the “Workers Party”, but that’s not likely to survive as its leader, founder and basically one man band (with no demeaning of your effort) was voted out of Parliament. This election in its chaos was the result of many serious unresolved issues in the UK, and the wider world, most of which weren’t even discussed. The elephants in the room that no-one seemed to see, Brexit, immigration, the Ukraine war, global warming, inequality, UK’s poor productivity, the privatised industries of rail, water and electricity etc. No-one going there, reporters and commentators complicit.
There was an interesting interview with David Dimbleby on the BBC political podcast. He opened with this observation – I partly paraphrase
“Im fine, watching this campaign with huge interests. A a “national conversation” we’re in the position of the opening lines of Dante’s Inferno – we’re in the middle of a dark wood where the path out is not clear. I think we’re in a terrible state as a country at the moment – huge deficit, NHS , education – whatever govt wins has five years to move mountains – I worry for this country – difficult painful period, to tell the truth
Challenged about his supposed “impartiality” with this comment, he defended it as perfectly impartial thing to say, true says his interviewer, Fair thing to say, everyone feels this.
Making a bald comment, no, no, no he says, if Were interviewing Starmer or Sunak I would say exactly that, and I’d expect you to answer. No qualms, it’s a given, we’re in a bad way, and so are lots of other countries the same,
Election campaigns narrow , can’t frighten the horses, Can’t think of a single campaign where candidates where comment isn’t “not talking about the real issues”‘ it’s always the same. Elections are fought by pulling the punches.
Gaza was a punch not pulled, but there were too many others to make this election any sort of answer to our converging crises
Craig, thank you for a remarkably successful campaign and all the hard work you put into getting it off the ground. You’ve always been an inspiration to me to stop obsessing about the past and to take positive steps to change the future, no matter how old I am or how difficult the obstacles appear to be. More power to your arm, and I fear you’ll need it: I never thought this would be “The Election” – a harbinger, yes, but 2019 will be much more significant, both in England and Scotland, and even then only if we can crystallize a genuine Opposition focus. As they say in Buddhism, the path to enlightenment starts with suffering. I suspect the next 5 years will be tough.
Best wishes as always.
Sorry, of course not 2019 but 2029.
The results of this election shows how sham the so called democracy in Britain is today. A landslide of 410 with a vote share of about 34%? This should ring serious alarm bells. Your vote only counts if it is for the big parties. I hate Reform and all they stand for but the 4 million voters for reform got 4 seats whilst a similar number for Lib Dem’s got 71 seats to represent them. The sum of the votes for greens, reform and Lib Dems is equivalent to all those who voted labour got a total of 79 seats as opposed to Starmer’s 410. This is far from a one man one vote representative democracy.
Also personal votes for Starmer were down 17% whilst Ashworth and debonnaire lost their seats and Streatling and Jess Philips squeezed in with much reduced majorities.
But the biggest blame goes to the true left in this country. They are unable to organise in such a way as to exploit the dissent in the population because they feared to split the labour vote. The right have not had such qualms and managed to deliberately destroy the socialists in the Labour Party in 2019 elections. In part this is due to reluctance to use the dirty tactics and lies of other parties. But Nigel Farage had no reservations and managed to smash the Tories and it was him and not Starmer who led to the Labour landslide.
There was constant mad shrieking about imaginary Stalinist purges by Corbyn. Farage is treated differently because he offers nothing different to the uniparty. It’s why he is platformed on ruling class media all the time.
I disagree. Farage has not been given an easy ride witness how the establishment parties ganged up against him on Russia. Farage and the extreme right in Europe succeed by being outrageously candid in a language common people can understand.
Well yes, they didn’t like that. He is however reliably (and vehemently) pro genocide in Gaza. Understanding of and empathy for Russia also tends to evaporate on the “radical” Right if they ever ascend to power or even get close to it. (Witness Trump, Meloni, Le Pen). As regards the socio-economic crises and grotesque inequality at home look who bankrolls Farage – the same big capital interests that control Labour and the Tories. His only solution to the crises of neoliberalism is to scapegoat the poor, vulnerable and foreign. That’s why he is given the stage more than virtually any other political figure in Britain. (I believe he holds the record number of appearances on BBC Question Time for example). Farage is someone they want to be heard.
franky I do not dispute any of what you say but the net result is that Farage has split the tory vote and that is what led to the collapse of the Tories and not that Starmer won this election by a landslide because he had any new ideas.
Yes, in all the seats Labour gained on Thursday Farage had split the conservative vote and cost the Tory the seat. He did the exact opposite in 2019, not standing candidates against Tory MPs. Then it was all about stopping Corbyn. This time it was about putting the establishment man’s Starmer into Downing street with a big majority.
Farage’s reward was a free run at Clacton, where Labour told their candidate to “get out of town and never come back”.
franky the way you describe it ie the opposite in 2019 etc really makes “the Farage Phenomenon” like a control rod inserted into the chain reaction of a general election, to channel the raw power of individual choice into the prescribed gutters of acceptable outcomes as delineated by the “intelligence” services and their controllers. There were similar politicians and political vehicles in Weimar who served a similar function as Farage and Reform – to speak to the mass who are aspirational but own few assets,
Of course in Weimar the Reichswehr was the only continuity amongst the contradictory melange of bureaucratic impulses that brought state-of-the-art velodromes, airports and many other infrastructural wonders face-to-clashing-face with a starving impoverished mass – who in their turn spawned massive street armies of “Reds” and “Browns”. The Army had a secret budget “off the books” to the Reichstag – a “Deep State” before the “Deep State”lol
We all know what happened in Weimar when these political tools became, whether by chance or design, ineffective
The Liarbour Tories got 20% of the votes of the electorate and the abstainers were 40% of the electorate. FPTP at its best, vote and you rig your own ballot.
Erasing political choice, disengaging voters and ultra low turnouts is the desired goal of neoliberalism. Peter Mair identified this decades ago in Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy. In the UK the unifying mission of the past decade has been to destroy the left insurgency and the prospect of genuine democracy that emerged out of nowhere with Corbyn in 2015.
It continues today, as the memory of that brief window of democracy must be extinguished or forever tarnished. It’s why whenever British journalists or politicians are speaking about Corbyn, it’s invariably a lie or a smear. Just lies after smears after lies. When your entire politics is built on lies, what does that tell you about your democracy and society?
As for Adnan Hussein, what are the odds on him being “a formidable opponent to Starmer” when he ran scared of debating you and is a project of Jack Straw’s bagman?
I am sure that Mr Hussein will turn out to be a determined and formidable opponent to Mr Starmer.
“Yes sir! Certainly sir! How high, sir?”
That’s indeed a very impressive result, Craig. Well done! I’m delighted to see the people of Blackburn rejected Labour in favour of an independent candidate.
This has to have been the most bizarre election any of us are likely to ever witness. I certainly don’t remember anything like it in my 47 years. It, once again, demonstrates the flaws in the FPTP system, as, well as highlights to politicians of all hues that they would do well not to take the electorate for granted. Here in Scotland we punished Labour for their hubris in 2015, and the SNP failed to learn the lesson from that and were given the same reward on Thursday.
For the first time, I had nobody to vote for. There was no independence-supporting candidate in my constituency, certainly not on a broader policy platform I could support. What an appalling state of affairs.
All I can say is that the SNP needs a significant turnaround before the upcoming Holyrood election in 2026, or it will have a similar result (which it would deserve, thanks to the gross incompetence of Sturgeon and her acolytes). Alba had better get their ducks in a row and start becoming a serious outfit, because we need prominent, honest independence advocates out in the public eye. And we need to have the Yes movement fired up and back in action.
In the meantime, enjoy some well-earmed rest, Craig. Well done!
Why is Victoria Starmer keeping such a low profile? What is she hiding? I did a quick google-search and Wikipedia could not even determine which year was born.
Her father seems to have been a very religious man, getting her wife to convert to judaism and Victoria herself have carried on the jewish tradition onto her children.
Was Keir pro-israel and philosemitic before he met Victoria?
Jack
My theory is that she’s just uncomfortable with the deception. Most people, at least those with any kind of scruples, would be too.
Country first
Party second
In the GE campaign, Starmer repeated this mantralike. It sounds a lot like the ‘national interest’ and for the ‘greater good’ arguments v. bad people use to justify otherwise unconscionable acts to themselves and others.
It’s obvious her Trilateral Commission, Davos loving, husband hasn’t got a socialist bone in his body. Quite why, in 2015, this pillar of the establishment wished to become a Labour MP, in a then left-leaning Labour party, under Ed Miliband, is itself a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma? To completely ‘change’ the party? If he wanted to steer Labour to the right, why not just join the Tories? And his leadership campaign promised ‘continuity Corbynism’ remember.
If Sir Keir really is a pliant establishment plant, it means we’ve got a cabal usurping our, already disproportionate, unrepresentative threadbare democracy. The consequences of that being revealed would be serious, hence the nervousness?
“It’s obvious her Trilateral Commission, Davos loving, husband hasn’t got a socialist bone in his body. Quite why, in 2015, this pillar of the establishment wished to become a Labour MP, in a then left-leaning Labour party, under Ed Miliband, is itself a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma? To completely ‘change’ the party”
A figure like Macron who came from nowhere..
She is an observant Jew and Starmer has now joined her in her beliefs. I’m not sure about his historical connection with Judaism Jack but I have found reports that this man has converted to Judaism – a sect called Masorti which apparently is a conservative iteration of the faith
https://heavy.com/news/2020/05/keir-starmer/
(Updated 13/12/23)
“ Challenging pre-conceptions about endemic anti-Semitism in Labour’s ranks, Starmer is a convert to Judaism – and he’s keeping his faith all in the family.
While Starmer wasn’t born into a Jewish family, his wife’s father is Jewish, with relatives living in Israel – and they are raising their son and daughter to be observant Jews, including regular Shabbat dinner attendance.”
There is very little info concerning the religious beliefs of this man which is odd. He doesn’t seem to be keen to advertise these beliefs. I think if a believer, of any sort, becomes PM it is important for the electorate to know this about them.
Blair converted to Catholicism which was his wife’s religion but the MSM kept this quiet. Starmer has apparently followed a similar path, converting to his wife’s religion, and again this will be suppressed for political reasons.
Since neither believed in socialism they probably needed the anchor of some monotheistic religion to buttress their belief in imperial wars. Even a warmonger has to be able to sleep at night.
However I do not believe that politicians’ wives should be of any concern to us unless they involve themselves in political activity or opinion. Here in Russia this has always been the case – with the exception of Raisa Gorbachev who is loathed to this day for playing the part of the Presidential wife.
However I do not believe that politicians’ wives should be of any concern to us unless they involve themselves in political activity or opinion. Here in Russia this has always been the case – with the exception of Raisa Gorbachev who is loathed to this day for playing the part of the Presidential wife.
It is indeed a bit of a loaded question no doubt but it could be a concern if she have such an influence and admiration for a certain religion/ethnic group that will in turn affect Keir and his policies.
One could imagine if Keir Starmer instead had a devout muslim wife and that Keir had converted to Islam, would he then have the same callous attitude towards Gaza today? I do not think so.
In my view, when Starmer speak on Gaza, he often seems uncomfortable, like his views are not really deep rooted, just take this video, where he looks like he is about to cry when confronted why he support the israeli atrocities:
” ‘Where is your humanity?’ Labour Party leader Keir Starmer confronted on a train “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkupNwmxT4c
Thus, is his views on Gaza really based on what he really believe or is it rooted in views that Victoria have influenced him with?
David not as quiet as Starmer’s religious conversion. Blair was pictured in many Catholic settings after his papist sympathies became actualised. One would think in this age of diversity and inclusion that having a Prime Minister who is a member of a tiny religious minority would be a major plus point for British Politics. I did watch a vid of K. Starmer talking about his conversion and it’s antecedents, surely Britons would benefit from knowing who their Prime Minister is?
On the subject of wives or families, I am less sympathetic myself. I remember watching a vid of Jeremy Corbyn leaving his house at 7.30 in the morning, accompanied by his son to be jostled and sneered at by Murdoch’s reptiles with attendant derogatory remarks, he wasn’t even PM. This was part of Jeremy “Running the Gauntlet” as described by murderous thug, Mike Pompeo – a coordinated campaign of such ferocity, it resembled the death-ride of Trotsky or Gregor Strasser though fortunately without the outcome – the McCarthy purges but focussed on one man.
It would be instructive to watch K. Starmer and his family under full scale media assault a la Corbyn and his family but that weapon will not be deployed against K. Starmer or his family – a privilege Corbyn nor his family was allowed. For K. Starmer has drank the Cool-aid and he governs Jonestown now. He and his family are protected not so Corbyn, Galloway and indeed all the rest of us.
A certain type of person will always jump at the opportunity to join a dominant clique.