The Labour Government

hcblue95 said:
You've just posted Starmer has said he'll stop accepting the free clothes?
Click to expand...

And?

He was clearly taking free everything whilst being interviewed telling the world how appalling it was MP’s taking free gifts and how he would put a stop to it.

It’s not difficult mate to see what he is imo.

A liar and a hypocrite who has been outed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PPT
To be fair at least we know who is giving freebies to Labour unlike the previous shower of spivs and cheats who often hid their donations behind untraceable shell companies.

www.tortoisemedia.com

Robert Jenrick's top donor received loan from untraceable BVI firm

Tory leadership favourite accepted £75,000 from a company whose origins are unclear
www.tortoisemedia.com www.tortoisemedia.com

And

www.opendemocracy.net

Tories have accepted £2.6m from ‘shadowy’ donors since Boris Johnson became PM

Exclusive: Secretive groups that can keep donors anonymous have given £800,000 to ‘Red Wall’ Tory MPs since 2019
www.opendemocracy.net www.opendemocracy.net
 
hcblue95 said:
You've just posted Starmer has said he'll stop accepting the free clothes?
Click to expand...
Does that also include free accomodation £20,437 or event tickets £40,000 glasses £2,500? as the statement seems very specific clothes only.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PPT
blueinsa said:
And?

He was clearly taking free everything whilst being interviewed telling the world how appalling it was MP’s taking free gifts and how he would put a stop to it.

It’s not difficult mate to see what he is imo.

A liar and a hypocrite who has been outed.
Click to expand...

You've said he was on record as saying he would put a stop to free gifts?

Can you cite this?
 
hcblue95 said:
No idea, I've not seen Starmer's comment. You'll have to ask blueinsa.
Click to expand...

I don't think Starmer actually ever said he'd ban the acceptance of gifts by MPs or stop doingit himself. He's simply misremembered or imagined it.
 
Last edited:
ganganvince said:
Genuine question open to all, what sources are acceptable I see
GB news
BBC
The Telegraph
The Mail
The Sun
The Express
Have all been derided as sources recently.
Click to expand...

I think there's two issues in play

(1) Agenda driven political propaganda masquerading as journalism of which multiple of the above outlets are guilty or in some cases is their sole purpose

(2) Click bait driven inanity masquerading as journalism. So for instance at one point earlier this morning 5 of the Guardians top 10 political articles were about Starmers clobber presumably in response to coverage in other outlets.

There is enough in that story for a single article about what the probity rules should or shouldn't be and maybe a minor second story about whether the government failed to recognise the difference in political optics between opposition and government. But the fact that story has generated as much 'print' as it has is a damning indictment of the state of journalism in the UK.

The changed business model for mainstream journalism, be it politics or sports, has completely trashed the quality and therefore value imo.

C4 is probably the best we have at the moment.
 
Last edited:
mackenzie said:
Without wanting to derail the thread, I doubt it lol
My son lives in Czech Republic and we went to the zoo in Jihlava last year when I visited. The monkey there showed it's arse to me too...perhaps it's just me hahaha. And as @Vic said ..they do other things too ;-)
Much prefer baby elephants.
Click to expand...

Lol, you clearly attract the wrong kind of monkey! In fairness though you can't get much cuter than a baby elephant.
 
I hadn't realised that the 100k total was over a 5 year period, rather than one year.
Some of the things are fine - the PL giving him Euro Final tickets is hardly a surprise. One of the sports events was given by City earlier this year, and they must therefore be up to something that needs Starmer.

According to the i, Cameron managed to rack up 60k when he was LOTO, and that was 2005-2010 - 100k from 2019-2024 looks quite reasonable in comparison.

inews.co.uk

Starmer's £100,000 of gifts and tickets - and how it compares to Sunak, Johnson and May

Keir Starmer's declared freebies are much higher than any of his predecessors, and higher than any other MP since 2019
inews.co.uk inews.co.uk

I don't have a problem in hospitality from football clubs, etc. Clubs like Crystal Palace and Norwich give them out because it makes their other guests feel good about themselves.

The clothing thing is just plain odd. I don't understand the point.
 
Blue and true said:
This thread is a thing of beauty, all these hardline Tories suddenly finding a conscience and tying themselves up in hypocritical knots.
Click to expand...

Perhaps they brought your conscience off eBay. But let’s see. Do you agree with WFA being removed from 1m pensioners living on under £269 a week? A quick search of this thread says you’ve been a bit quiet on it TBH.
 
Blue and true said:
I agree, let's see if he is as good as his word. I'll go on record by saying no politician, of any persuasion, should be claiming gifts off anyone. And I've already gone on record with criticism of the WFA being taken from many. But I'm not going to be drawn into the pontificating of GB News, of all outlets.

What I find funny are the numerous posters, and they know who they are, now expressing concern over the neediest in society being shat on; and for fifteen years prior they maintained radio silence on these issues.
Click to expand...

Ignore my last post. Answered
 
MillionMilesAway said:
I hadn't realised that the 100k total was over a 5 year period, rather than one year.
Some of the things are fine - the PL giving him Euro Final tickets is hardly a surprise. One of the sports events was given by City earlier this year, and they must therefore be up to something that needs Starmer.

According to the i, Cameron managed to rack up 60k when he was LOTO, and that was 2005-2010 - 100k from 2019-2024 looks quite reasonable in comparison.

inews.co.uk

Starmer's £100,000 of gifts and tickets - and how it compares to Sunak, Johnson and May

Keir Starmer's declared freebies are much higher than any of his predecessors, and higher than any other MP since 2019
inews.co.uk inews.co.uk

I don't have a problem in hospitality from football clubs, etc. Clubs like Crystal Palace and Norwich give them out because it makes their other guests feel good about themselves.

The clothing thing is just plain odd. I don't understand the point.
Click to expand...
Clthing companies give free stuff to lots of people that are likelee to be photographed in their gear
 
MillionMilesAway said:
I hadn't realised that the 100k total was over a 5 year period, rather than one year.
Some of the things are fine - the PL giving him Euro Final tickets is hardly a surprise. One of the sports events was given by City earlier this year, and they must therefore be up to something that needs Starmer.

According to the i, Cameron managed to rack up 60k when he was LOTO, and that was 2005-2010 - 100k from 2019-2024 looks quite reasonable in comparison.

inews.co.uk

Starmer's £100,000 of gifts and tickets - and how it compares to Sunak, Johnson and May

Keir Starmer's declared freebies are much higher than any of his predecessors, and higher than any other MP since 2019
inews.co.uk inews.co.uk

I don't have a problem in hospitality from football clubs, etc. Clubs like Crystal Palace and Norwich give them out because it makes their other guests feel good about themselves.

The clothing thing is just plain odd. I don't understand the point.
Click to expand...

My perspective is that this is just political naivety on Labour and Starmer's part. They are following a sort of historical precedent that the Conservatives established, as you've said Cameron did similar when he was LOTO. This is all generally within the rules of what is allowed by the system (perhaps with the exception of Johnson who seems to have maxed out the gravy boat to its extremis).

The problem is that the historical precedent, and the system in place, is looked on unfavourably by the general public. Starmer will know that many people in the services sector can't even accept a box of chocolates at Christmas for risk of the appearance of impropriety. So when they see politicians getting these kinds of gifts, it is going to leave a sour taste.

This should have been recognised at a far earlier stage. If Labour is going to stand on this platform of "putting the government back into the service of working people", then this is an open goal for undermining that position, as this could not be further from the experience of a working person.

It's still not even remotely in the same realm of blatant misuse of office we saw in the 14 years prior, but Labour have to understand they are being held to a higher standard whether they like it or not, that's just the reality of their position.
 
SkyBlueFlux said:
My perspective is that this is just political naivety on Labour and Starmer's part. They are following a sort of historical precedent that the Conservatives established, as you've said Cameron did similar when he was LOTO. This is all generally within the rules of what is allowed by the system (perhaps with the exception of Johnson who seems to have maxed out the gravy boat to its extremis).

The problem is that the historical precedent, and the system in place, is looked on unfavourably by the general public. Starmer will know that many people in the services sector can't even accept a box of chocolates at Christmas for risk of the appearance of impropriety. So when they see politicians getting these kinds of gifts, it is going to leave a sour taste.

This should have been recognised at a far earlier stage. If Labour is going to stand on this platform of "putting the government back into the service of working people", then this is an open goal for undermining that position, as this could not be further from the experience of a working person.

It's still not even remotely in the same realm of blatant misuse of office we saw in the 14 years prior, but Labour have to understand they are being held to a higher standard whether they like it or not, that's just the reality of their position.
Click to expand...

This pretty much echos what you’re saying

www.bbc.co.uk

Keir Starmer's clothes row frustrates Labour insiders, Laura Kuenssberg writes

Sir Keir Starmer's top team have learnt the hard way that in politics, perception matters.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
ganganvince said:
Genuine question open to all, what sources are acceptable I see
GB news
BBC
The Telegraph
The Mail
The Sun
The Express
Have all been derided as sources recently.
Click to expand...
Not so much the source as the slant.

If you cannot show where gifts have bought benefits to the donor, then it might not be wise but it's not a "scandal" (as the BBC called it this morning). A scandal would be something like a Mayor of London giving his latest girlfriend business grants and taking her on "trade" trips without declaring the (adulterous) relationship.
 
SkyBlueFlux said:
My perspective is that this is just political naivety on Labour and Starmer's part. They are following a sort of historical precedent that the Conservatives established, as you've said Cameron did similar when he was LOTO. This is all generally within the rules of what is allowed by the system (perhaps with the exception of Johnson who seems to have maxed out the gravy boat to its extremis).

The problem is that the historical precedent, and the system in place, is looked on unfavourably by the general public. Starmer will know that many people in the services sector can't even accept a box of chocolates at Christmas for risk of the appearance of impropriety. So when they see politicians getting these kinds of gifts, it is going to leave a sour taste.

This should have been recognised at a far earlier stage. If Labour is going to stand on this platform of "putting the government back into the service of working people", then this is an open goal for undermining that position, as this could not be further from the experience of a working person.

It's still not even remotely in the same realm of blatant misuse of office we saw in the 14 years prior, but Labour have to understand they are being held to a higher standard whether they like it or not, that's just the reality of their position.
Click to expand...

This really should be the definitive post on this subject and we should move on.
(I can live in hope!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top