But none of that is illegal so it's good actually.
Westminster Politics 2024-2029
- Thread starter Pexbo
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran are here to talk about a frustrating 2 points dropped at Crystal Palace. They then discuss the regeneration of Old Trafford. Finally, Nik is joined by special guest Michael Statham from the Football Oranje podcast - who gives us a more in depth look at our EL opposition FC Twente, and then runs through the (many) Dutch connections currently at United.
But there's a conflict so it should be investigated.
Its probably worth reminding ourselves, especially those who think that this looking bad isn't really a problem, is that if the 'they are all the same' sticks, and it will, then the electorate, most of whom pay no attention to politics outside of what appears on BBC news headlines, will look for something else next election.
That won't be the greens, it won't be whatever corbyn creates, it will be farage. Because his is the only party the media itself presents as an outsider (even when they are no such thing).
I said before the election, starmer presenting himself under the banner of the left, doing awful stuff that the tories would be proud of, leads to farage as PM in 2029.
It will likely be a reform/tory coalition, but I'm more sure than ever its coming now.
That won't be the greens, it won't be whatever corbyn creates, it will be farage. Because his is the only party the media itself presents as an outsider (even when they are no such thing).
I said before the election, starmer presenting himself under the banner of the left, doing awful stuff that the tories would be proud of, leads to farage as PM in 2029.
It will likely be a reform/tory coalition, but I'm more sure than ever its coming now.
I don't have a problem with a family friend (and longstanding Labour insider/peer) letting Starmer's son stay in his house during GCSEs and a nominal £20k being put on the value of that for parliamentary accounting purposes. Presumably it was the 13th July because if the election was on the 4th July, it'd take a couple of weeks to move into Downing Street, so might as well stay there.
The above feels different to gifts being handed out that could lead to a conflict of interest, and I think broadly the same rules that apply to the rest of us in work under the Bribery Act, should also apply to MPs. (I also think the PM should be paid a lot more, all things being equal.)
Is this the same "Starver" who has just introduced breakfast clubs in all primary schools?
In many industries the appearance of impropriety is the standard. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same of politicians, though obviously the Arsenal thing doesn't seem an issue and the dresses being donated is not actually unusual in the world of fashion, I think, so unless the owner is in receipt of government contracts or otherwise seeks beneficial treatment from the state without further information it doesn't seem ridiculous.
The other things discussed do sound more dodgy
The other things discussed do sound more dodgy
A small point, but I didn't want him to bring his family into it. The accommodation was being used for the election, and I think they could have just said that. My issue is whoever is controlling his media strategy at the moment. They are doing a very bad job.
If you look at each gift in isolation I'm sure you can rationalise them as not leading to any conflicts of interest.
When you look at it all together I don't know how you can still think that.
I warned of the same in the Starmer thread when he was in opposition.
He will dirty the Labour brand with voters, lose any goodwill and cause a far right resurgence at the next GE. Unless he starts enacting historical Labour values to improve people's lives while in government.
At the moment watching the car crash is like watching Truss.
Well they’re all small.
I’d be happy if you added a zero to his gifted total if it meant the Tories got booted.
If the glasses and some clothes meant that he looked the part in marginal seats vs his millionaire opponent, I’m good with it.
If having a central London space to operate from meant he got some peace, I’m good with it.
If every single point of value was justified, and didn’t cost the taxpayer, why on earth should I care? The Tories are gone, and until the budget, we don’t know what this government looks like.
We’re not talking about some massive hidden treasure trove of hidden quid pro quos. So I really don’t get the drama that’s been attached to it. He’s within all the rules and declared everything, often to the point of over declaration.
He is literally doing everything we wanted in the transparency space. Everyone is shitting their pants at stuff that we never would have even heard about under the Tories. Then creating false equivalences.
Now, if dots start getting connected that suggest coercion and control, fine. I’ll grab a tiki torch. This ain’t the fight for me though. I do agree with @Frosty in terms of the messaging being shite. But they’re forever pushing shit uphill in that space. Feels like even their best efforts will be pissing in the wind of right wing media in this country.
A very bad job, consistently. Not what I expected as in other ways he's been very professional as a politician. I assume staff changes will take place.
Labour really are morons.
You'd have thought given how much they preached to the country (rightly) about Tories and their endless list of scams and handouts that they were endeavour to keep themselves squeeky clean so when they did get into Government the right wing media wouldn't be able to score an easy win.
But no. These morons have been doing it themselves. Maybe not scamming to the same degree at Tories but taking freebies and handouts which they themselves preached against just makes them look like complete hypocrites. What a stupid policial own goal and completely avoidable.
You'd have thought given how much they preached to the country (rightly) about Tories and their endless list of scams and handouts that they were endeavour to keep themselves squeeky clean so when they did get into Government the right wing media wouldn't be able to score an easy win.
But no. These morons have been doing it themselves. Maybe not scamming to the same degree at Tories but taking freebies and handouts which they themselves preached against just makes them look like complete hypocrites. What a stupid policial own goal and completely avoidable.
Christ the Starmer lot are starting to sound like crackpot republicans on fox news.
Just imagining if Starmer came out with the same arguments some are making here he'd sound like fecking Trump. "You know, they said Keir you've got the best declarations. No one has ever declared like you before. Honestly they said I'd over declared. They said no one cares about ten twenty thousand. I was surprised. They said I was the most transparent prime minister ever".
Just imagining if Starmer came out with the same arguments some are making here he'd sound like fecking Trump. "You know, they said Keir you've got the best declarations. No one has ever declared like you before. Honestly they said I'd over declared. They said no one cares about ten twenty thousand. I was surprised. They said I was the most transparent prime minister ever".
Is there a limit as to what can be gifted? For everybody not just Starmer, the Tories or anyone.
Just declaring it is a nonsense. If it's £20, £20k or £20 million - is there no accountability?
Starmer's advisers must be complete morons.
Just declaring it is a nonsense. If it's £20, £20k or £20 million - is there no accountability?
Starmer's advisers must be complete morons.
Who the hell came up with the too busy to buy clothes line. Also didn’t rule out saying no to Swift or Arsenal tickets.
Incredible stuff sir.
I don't believe there's a hard limit no, just a threshold for when it has to be declared.
It's obviously intentional as it's out of step with private industry and the civil service where approval and reasonable tests are not self certified. MPs left in charge of their own limits are not going to put in such rules.
Also worth pointing out Starmer has fallen fall of late declarations before as well so he can't even get that bit right.
Well no other PM in living memory has introduced this.
This is the 'improvement' we've discussed previously.
Whilst keeping the 2 child benefit cap. Got any details about these breakfast clubs? I'd love to see if the policy is as good as it sounds.
The accommodation one isn’t really like the others in fairness. It’s really only the £20k value thing being added on per declaration rules that makes it a juicy sounding story. Though I agree it is yet another thing that helps to contribute to this weird picture of Lord Alli as some kind of unaccountable sugar daddy fixer figure with his hands all over all the party.
If anything really dodgy ever comes out about him, it puts a lot of people in very awkward, potentially compromised positions. Which is the point
If anything really dodgy ever comes out about him, it puts a lot of people in very awkward, potentially compromised positions. Which is the point
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Context matters. It’s not nefarious until it is.
Personally, I wouldn’t take it. I wouldn’t want them to take it.
But also… it’s the Fcuking Telegraph. ‘Bosses linked to’. Give it the ol’ thumbs up if you like, But provide some details. Was he a shareholder? A board member? No.
“Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North, attended a Chelsea v Crystal Palace football match at the invitation of Hutchison 3G UK Limited, which is ultimately wholly owned by CK Hutchison Holdings.
CK Hutchison Holdings owns 75 per cent of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, the owner of Northumbrian Water.”
Absolute meltiest comeback. Bravo lad. He went as a guest of a Telecomms company. That’s owned by a holding company. That holding company owns 75% of a water company he’s probably never heard of, on the Scottish border.
Take a bow after you’ve stopped guzzling the dirty jizz that the right wing media’s cock has expunged in your vague direction.
Honestly. This is why we Fcuking lose all the time. Sanctimonious b0llocks with no sense of perspective. Even when we won we can’t accept it. Get a grip.
So the story is true then. Glad you agree.
Thousands of children across England will get free access to breakfast clubs from April, according to new plans set out by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Speaking at the Labour Conference in Liverpool, Reeves said up to 750 schools in England would be offered the chance to take part in the initiative next year, with plans to later rollout the scheme to all schools in the country.
Where will the breakfast clubs be?
The breakfast clubs will be available at 750 state-funded primary schools across England in the first phase of the rollout, the chancellor said.
The plan would work collaboratively with schools, businesses and charities to test the delivery of the breakfast club programme ahead of the wider national rollout.
The Department for Education has not yet specified exactly who will be eligible for this breakfast club programme, but it said it was an additional scheme on top of the current national school breakfast programme.
Schools participating in the current breakfast club scheme receive a 75% subsidy for the food and delivery costs of breakfast club provisions, with schools contributing 25% of costs.
The new plan laid out by the chancellor was backed by £7 million of funding and the Department for Education, but the government has not yet provided details on how much the scheme would cost.
https://www.itv.com/news/2024-09-23...lubs-across-the-uk-are-your-children-eligible
As of January 17, 2024, there were 20,778 state-funded primary schools in the UK
Now we know how Sir Kid Starver and his friends learned to lie. They have a good teacher.
It is not called The Torygraph for nothing.
And as we know, these right wing rags including the DM, Express, Sun etc have no limits when it comes to rubbishing Labour. But Labour politicians should have been a lot less naive because this type of so called news was always going to come out.
I don’t think he gets it
Also contains a great moment where Starmer has to stop himself revelling how he gets invited to Murdoch parties.
Also contains a great moment where Starmer has to stop himself revelling how he gets invited to Murdoch parties.
Which idiot in HQ has decided "let's defend the fact that someone gave us a London pad to use for election purposes for two months by focusing on the fact your son was doing some revision there"?
My guess is they are trying to make Starmer relatable/sympathetic but I don’t think they could of picked a more awful line.
1)Its just not very believable(Then added in that the dates don’t line up)
2)At the very least Starmer has wanted to become PM since 2019. So acting shocked about the media pressure in 2024 is clearly bollocks.
3)Trying to come across as the common man while talking about renting out a penthouse isn’t a workable position.
Pure shit show.
Damned if they feed starving kids, damned if they don't.
My wife worked at a rough school and the heart breaking stuff she saw, the effects of inadequate parenting, and the number of kids who didn't get proper food... I don't think breakfast clubs are a joke.
Added to that Labour were aggressively briefing the media that his kids would be off limit if he was elected. This is basically a red rag to the media bull.
Conference going well from the sounds of it 
The stand out of all these conversations is that for them, not just starmer, its the same with all of them, the only options are take the gift or do without.
The option to pay for it themselves never exists in their world. Which tells you just how used to others paying for everything they are.
The option to pay for it themselves never exists in their world. Which tells you just how used to others paying for everything they are.
Yep he has pretty much given the media the green light. Which sucks for Starmer family.
It's mental. The level of entitlement is insane.