Keir Starmer listened – what’s the strategy now?

By TruePublica Editor: It seems quite obvious to me (tongue in cheek, of course) that team Keir Starmer have been reading TruePublica – especially the article I wrote some months ago about what he could do to unite us all. I started that article with the words – “Trust in politicians cratered years ago. Then it cratered in just about everything else. Social media corporations are tearing apart friendships, families, communities and in some cases entire countries.” I then rambled on about how much the general public are worn down by the uselessness of our political system, of our corporate and religious leaders and an increasingly Americanised and shrill media.

But for all that the Boris Johnson government has done, they consistently seem to be getting away with their lies and unadulterated malfeasance in office. Make no mistake though – trust is the big one. The very reason why Johnson got his knees under the table in the highest office in the land was because many voters no longer believed what they were being told in the first place – about trickle down economics, standards of living and so on – so they rocked the boat to see what would happen. And they kept rocking until change happened.

And just as I predicted, with Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, the Labour Party was destined to be a political catastrophe. And it was. He lost two elections, the latter of which, was the most damaging loss for the party since 1935. It was just as predictable that the Labour Party had to move back to the centre ground with the inevitable infighting it caused. The trouble for Keir Starmer is he is still suffering from the lingering effects of brand Corbyn and many on the left of Starmer hate him for it. Mind you, it’s the same in the Tory party as many on the centre-right hate Johnson for what he has done.

So what does Keir Starmer need to do next now he has announced a reshuffle that moves towards the centre-left? The first is not to fear that the Tories will somehow be able to clear up their mess. They won’t. The characters involved will continue to be involved in more and more scandals and screw-ups. Indeed, it is a party immersed in malfeasance. It is almost as if this is now their raison d’être – and many journalists are digging harder today than ever because they know there’s yet another juicy story just around the corner.

Second, Brexit will continue to serve up a continuous platter of economic and political debris. It is now reported that the US has lifted its tariffs on EU steel and aluminium but they remain in place for Britain. It amounts to nothing more than a Brexit penalty – the opposite of what we were promised on US trade by Farage, Johnson, Gove, Rees-Mogg and others in the merry band of Brexiteers who couldn’t be bothered to read the small print. It is typical of the many stories we’ll soon hear about the failure of this government to properly negotiate Brexit.

Thirdly, the pandemic will recede – eventually, and the fog will clear and so will the ability to cover up their mess.

And all three of these things will happen sometime sooner or later in the next twelve months.

In the meantime, education, health and policing have all suffered. The Tories know this so they have made pledges with numbers – more doctors, nurses, police officers and funding boosts.

However, there’s something the Tories have not pledged. And that is how they intend to make all these things better. And in future, when they make promises about how – the electorate won’t believe them. By the end of 2022, new taxes and inflation will have bit hard into household budgets, the economy will be slowing down and especially so against global competitors. The lies will be unravelling fast.

Just look at some of the headlines in the news right now.

On London’s stock market, from the FT – “The UK stock market is becoming a global backwater as US and Chinese markets forge ahead.” (LINK)

On the UK’s global competitive from Reuters – “Sluggish UK economy falls behind the G7 pack.” (LINK)

On education from The Telegraph – “Jurassic Park Britain risks economic extinction.” (LINK)

There are numerous headlines about crime, violence, cratering household incomes, health and so on. And none of these are going away any time soon, if anything, they are only going to get worse.

Team Keir Starmer have started the march for power. They have reorganised. And now they have started aiming their focus on the word ‘corruption’ by calling it out. And they need to keep that pressure on. But soon, they will need to get the story across that the country truly is broken and a lot needs fixing otherwise global Britain will be overtaken by the likes of France, Italy or any number in the top 10 of world economies and we’ll all feel the one thing we all hate more than anything – that the prospects of the next generation have got significantly worse.

When the election promises come – the Tories won’t be able to deliver any of them with any sincerity. Labour needs to focus on Tory sleaze, lies and corruption. But they also need to convince us that they can make Brexit work and get back to fixing our social ails – education, health and security. The Tories won’t build 40 new hospitals. They won’t get more doctors, nurses and police officers and when they do, the quality of them will be in question. Ask any 10-year time served police Sergeant and they will tell you stories of new recruits.

The last ten years of Tory management has failed on just about every metric you can think of. Everywhere you care to look, there is failure.

Two in three academy chains ‘fail’ survey says. (LINK). Majority of police officers would not recommend job, survey finds. (LINK). NHS facing ‘catastrophic shortage’ of top hospital doctors (LINK). Fall in GPs despite push to hire more. (LINK). Maternity failures putting mothers and babies at risk (LINK).

Johnson is lying about job and wages increases being the result of Brexit. He’s lying about the numbers of consultant doctors and nurses these services are attracting as a net number. And he’s not mentioned that there is an impending catastrophic fall of maternity nurses (Midwives facing staffing and safety crisis – LINK) or new GP’s when so many are now leaving the service. This time next year the picture will be even worse – what then will the lies be about?

In the meantime, instead of concentrating on running the country for the benefit of us all, the Tories are fighting off a new slew of scandals. In the last few days, new stories are emerging. Cocaine was discovered in the toilets next to the private offices of Boris Johnson and Priti Patel (LINK). Laughably, the so-called ‘Justice Secretary’, Dominic Raab has said – “the police don’t normally look back and investigate things that have taken place a year ago” when referring to Christmas parties in Downing Street during a legally enforceable lockdown (LINK). Remember the story of Matt Hancock and Alex Bourne, the publican turned medical equipmemt supplier. Hancock went on to defend himself to say that Bourne – “never got a (multi-million pound C19) contract from the Government” and that it was a “fabrication pushed by the Labour Party” and “a load of rubbish”. According to the director of the Good Law Project – That was a lie as well (LINK). And whilst we can all have a good laugh at that excruciating video of public nutcase Piers Corbyn on a train – don’t forget, it wasn’t so long ago that Boris Johnson was casting doubt on climate change, based on the theories of, I kid you not, his ‘learned’ friend….. Piers Corbyn (LINK).

The truth is, even the Tories and especially the 2019 intake in the northern ‘red-wall’ can see that whilst Boris Johnson can win elections, he simply can’t govern.

To get into power Labour, with Keir Starmer leading the charge, must focus on what we all want. End the sleaze, end the corruption, make Brexit work and fix our badly damaged services that the Conservative party have spent a decade dismantling whilst many of them have lined their pockets. It’s a cliche isn’t it to want real tangible change – and it could start with demonstrating the type of moral authority missing in Downing Street.

 

 

 

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