Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

General Secretaries of affiliated unions going to Downing Street to meet with Starmer. Worth noting several have already called for him to step down.

And semi relatedly the CWU (Communication Workers Union) voted to maintain their affiliation with the Labour Party at their conference yesterday, which is good.

[Valmy]

Thanks.
That's a lot of non voters

Low turnout in local elections.

[crazy canuck]

The LRB podcast has a good analysis - and a devastating rebuke of Starmer, including in the introductory comments:

"He's delivered a speech that's very long on values and various cliches, warning that the country will go down a very dark path if the party doesn't get it together and declaring that incremental change won't cut it.
Then announcing a series of incremental changes"

[Sheilbh]

Thanks.
That's a lot of non voters

Low turnout in local elections.

Yeah I think that chart's a bit misleading (possibly inadvertently) on that.

And turnout actually quite interesting.

[Sheilbh]

The LRB podcast has a good analysis - and a devastating rebuke of Starmer, including in the introductory comments:

"He's delivered a speech that's very long on values and various cliches, warning that the country will go down a very dark path if the party doesn't get it together and declaring that incremental change won't cut it.
Then announcing a series of incremental changes"

Yeah. The problem is this is who he is and there were lots of cheerleaders (I don't think I've seen any party leader get quite so easy a ride for so little substance and so many red flags - as Michael Crick and the left pointed out).

And of course the funny thing is that if he wasn't so empty and a flesh suit for internal factional fights - on actual policies, there is a path of Starmer running a Harold Wilson style, broad church government. But he didn't have the vision, he certainly didn't have Wilson's political genius and the people around him cared less about the policy direction than winning internal factional fights.

And by the by with the "self-interested lizard" and he'd be asking "what would Peter Mandelson do" plus some of the scorched earth attacks on Burnham. Labour internal factional fights are so much more brutal than in the Tory party, Labour factions really hate each other (and its always been so - it's part of why we have so many great Labour diaries and memoirs is people continuing their factional battles into the historical record ).

[Sheilbh]

Wait Chuka Umuna seen in Downing Street?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Thanks.
That's a lot of non voters

Low turnout in local elections.

one would hope people are more interested in how the places where they live are governed. But apparently not.

[mongers]

Wait Chuka Umuna seen in Downing Street?

In desperation Starmer googled 'Change UK' and that's what turned up, so he invited him round?

[mongers]

Part of Jess Philips's resignation letter is worth quoting and quite telling on Starmer:

....

However, it would be remiss of me not to say that real change and direction in this area usually came from threats made by me in light of catastrophic mistakes. The Mandelson saga whenever it bubbled up made Number 10 kick into gear on the subject in order to prove our credentials. I will never waste a crisis to make advancements for women and girls and so demands were made and some were met.

I think you are a good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things however I have seen first-hand how that is not enough. The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed.

Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves. 91% of online child sex abuse is self-generated by children groomed, tricked and exploited in to abuse. The technology exists to stop children being able to take naked images of themselves. We could make this possible on every phone and device in the country. We could stop this abuse. It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space. Not legislate, just threaten. This is the definition of incremental change. Nothing bold about it. The announcement was meant to be in March, I'm still on a promise this will happen in June, I've given up believing it. How many children were left without a safety net in the time we dilly dallied and worried about tech bosses?

This is just one example.

......

[Valmy]

Thanks.
That's a lot of non voters

Low turnout in local elections.

one would hope people are more interested in how the places where they live are governed. But apparently not.

I don't know how it is in the UK but in the US there is very little media coverage of local government. People spend hours every day talking about the President but very few minutes a year about the mayor or county commissioner. So people often just ignore these elections. As I said we are in a very polarized and very political time in our nations history, people are losing jobs and business and relationships over political views. Turnout in our last local election that included a huge MAGA vs Democrat struggle? Less than 10%.

But I don't know how the Brits are about their councils.

[Sheilbh]

So Parliament was prorogued ahead of the locals (also conveniently for Starmer) with the opening and King's Speech today.

Apparently yesterday the palace had conversations with Downing Street confirming whether it should still go ahead and emphasising to Downing Street the importance of not politicising the monarch.

Separately in the most Starmer move ever he had the cabinet meeting, read a pre-prepared statement and said he wouldn't discuss his position in cabinet but would see people individually - he then moved onto Iran. Apparently afterwards several cabinet ministers tried to speak to them and he wouldn't (you can't coup me if it's not on the agenda) Streeting did have a meeting this morning and will make a statement tomorrow (doesn't want to interfere with the King's Speech). Again just very struck at how weak these cabinet members are.

[garbon]

It doesn't suggest any of them have the gumption to be PM, so reticent to stick their heads above the parapet.

I do see BBC saying Streeting allies expect him to declare tomorrow.

[garbon]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1e2n923v1lt?post=asset%3A0c96aecc-a63b-4297-b2c7-e96753811c08#post

Badenoch next asks why the government has "learnt no lessons" from its time in power so far.

"I suppose the health secretary has been a bit distracted lately, hasn't he," she quips, asking Streeting: "Why don't you just do your job?"

[garbon]

Kemi also made fun of the Labour bob that so many of their front bench women seem to rock.