Might need to pull some of these comments out and put them in UK politics thread, before the Americans start shouting at me again đŸ˜†
RocktheCasbah clearly, having painted himself as whiter than white, Starmer has put himself in a bit of a predicament with the clothes and the glasses (personally I couldn't care less about the box at Arsenal and the flat).
However, there is still a world of difference between this and the wide scale corruption and lying of the Johnson era - and the way everyone in the parliamentary party was forced to line up and tell lies, defending lies & things they knew to be wrong, gaslighting the nation every single day.
And that's just talking about what the Tories became once Johnson was in Number 10, let's not forget how he got there - selling the country down the river for his own personal ambition.
The problem for Starmer is one of his themes for his election was his integrity and within weeks of taking office he showed he isn't much different to others when it comes to taking freebies. Now we can argue about the amounts and whether he was as corrupt as the last guy but he is not the honest whiter than white politician that he claimed to be. I mean what makes anyone think he won't do other dodgy shit? It was one of his most effective tools calling out the Tories on their corruption but he has also shown he's happy to turn a blind eye when it comes to him.
You say the ticket thing isn't important but would you have given Boris Johnson the same leeway when it came to taking gifts? It's a £175k per year box not some £50 ticket. Look it is not the end of the world, not like he is selling state secrets and if he wants to live like that fair enough. But he is a hypocrite for calling out others and you can't then complain that the media are holding him to account for that.
I don't disagree with your comments about Johnson but am not sure why you are comparing them? Boris and his antics are also one of the reasons he is no longer PM, no longer an MP and his party took one of their worst beatings in like 100 years. The other reasons goon highlighted. This guy went from being nailed on 2 or even 3 term PM to political wilderness. If your incompetent at your job the voters will punish you for it.
goon I don't even think the COVID parties were terminal for Johnson.
I actually think they were the begging of the end for him. During Covid a lot of people had to make big sacrifices and we were told they were for the good of the country and when the leader gets caught fucking having parties I think he was a dead man walking.
goon What people care about is policy, things that will materially change things on the ground. Improve the NHS, Prisons and invest in public services/infrastructure and people will notice given time.
Agreed and for that you need a strong economy and secondly will need Labour to be strong on planning laws. Planning law overhaul imo would turn the economy and country around. Housing, Business, infrastructure & even prisons all have been handicapped by current planning laws. If the planning laws don't work then the environmental regulations are the next tool of choice for the NIMBYs. If Labour can defeat the NIMBYs they'll have a great chance at turnings things around. They have the numbers and I hope they have the political will to do it.
I do actually also think Wes Streeting is one of the best members in the cabinet. I don't know if his ideas will work for the NHS but they seem to make sense and probably a lot of thought has gone into them.
I think people do care about this stuff but obviously if his policies turn the country around people will look past that. Clearly doesn't bother you but it does bother others, Considering his majority it won't make much difference but recent events have definitely had a knock on his reputation. Again polling right now is irrelevant in a way but it all shows his favourability among voters is massively down.
