In the midst\nof this global covid-19 pandemic it has perhaps slipped under the radar\nsomewhat that the Labour Party, Her Majesty\u2019s official opposition, has finally\nrid itself of \u2018Magic Grandpa\u2019 Jeremy Corbyn \u2013 the man responsible for the\nLabour Party\u2019s worst election performance since 1935 \u2013 and elected a new\nleader: Sir Keir Starmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst from\na partisan perspective we Conservatives might have enjoyed having Corbyn and\nhis Marxist cronies McDonnell and Abbott sitting on the front row of the\nOpposition benches for the duration of this parliament and thus continually\nruining the Labour Party\u2019s standing as a respectable and electable force; as\ndemocrats we know that for the benefit of democracy and holding Her Majesty\u2019s\nGovernment to proper account \u2013 this change has been long overdue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labour\u2019s new\nleader comes with a glittering CV behind him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in\nSouthwark, London, 57 year-old Starmer studied at Leeds University and then St\nEdmund Hall, Oxford, graduated in 1986 as a Bachelor of Civil Law and became a barrister\nin 1987. In November 2008 he became Head of the Crown Prosecution Service and\nDirector of Public Prosecutions, leaving in November 2013. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December\n2014 Sir Keir was selected to be the Labour Party representative for the safe\nseat of Holborn and St Pancras for the 2015 election, going on to win with a\nmajority of more than 17,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the\nConservative\u2019s gaining a surprise outright majority at the same election,\nleader Ed Milliband resigned as Labour leader. After Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s victory in\nthe leadership contest, Starmer was appointed Shadow Minister of State for\nImmigration. He resigned from this post in 2016 in protest at Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s\nleadership of the party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oridinarily\nthat would have ensured a lengthy spell on the back benches, but following\nJeremy Corbyn\u2019s re-election as Leader of the Labour Party and Britain\u2019s\ndecision to vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, Sir Keir\nbecame the Shadow Brexit Secretary. He was to stay in this post until after the\n2019 general election which saw Boris Johnson swept back to power with a\nmajority of 80 seats thus forcing Jeremy Corbyn to finally call it a day,\nknowing the game was up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sir Keir has\na lot of internal party politics to firstly sort out. The Labour Party\u2019s\nreputation was heavily damaged through the Corbyn years, with multiple claims\nof antisemitism throughout the party membership and through the extra grass\nroots support of Momentum. This has left a bitter taste with the electorate\nmore broadly and will take a while for them to build trust up again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from\nthis, what does Sir Keir stand for? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He describes\nhimself as \u2018soft left,\u2019 however given that the grass roots of the Labour Party\nhas fundamentally changed since the days of Tony Blair, he has had to swing\nfurther to the left to win the leadership election. Here is a snapshot of his\npledges: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nis quite a substantive list of pledges. It is indeed difficult to see where\nthey differs from those made by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless,\nSir Keir is a very polished media performer and may be able to articulate his\npositions in a more convincing manner than his predecessor was able to. It\u2019s\nalso important to recall that opinion polls do point towards many elements of\nthe Labour Party\u2019s 2017 election manifesto as popular with the wider public.\nThat election, of course, cost previous Prime Minister Theresa May her\nmajority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However,\nSir Keir was also responsible for the Labour Party\u2019s rather incoherent policy\non Brexit, as it tried to put a square peg in a round hole by pleasing its\nParty membership (pro EU and pro 2nd referendum)\nand its broader electorate (pro Brexit.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe end, it\u2019s policy was widely ridiculed. How can a government in waiting\npromise to deliver on the referendum result by negotiating a withdrawal\nagreement with the EU, then present that agreement to the public in a\nreferendum of Remain vs Agreement and not be prepared to stand by and support\nits own agreement in the referendum? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nshows to the wider public a government engaged in a process that they don\u2019t\nbelieve in and have perhaps deliberately sabotaged. It shows a lack of\nleadership and contempt for voters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nis partly where Labour fell to pieces in the 2019 election and the\nresponsibility for it lies mostly with the architect of that policy \u2013 Sir Keir.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s\nalso easy to see that the list of pledges will be rather pricy for the tax\npayer to fulfill. Given that the current government has had to seriously splash\ncash around to support the wider economy during the covid-19 pandemic, it is\nhard to foresee at this stage what the wider economic outlook will be in almost\n5 years time when the next election is due. Money being available to finance\nSir Keir\u2019s projects may not be in existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However,\nhis first performances at Prime Minister\u2019s Questions have received ample praise\nfrom those that would naturally be sympathetic supporters but who had turned\ntheir back on Labour under Jeremy Corbyn. So it looks like the opposition is\nback! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still,\nlet\u2019s not underestimate the Prime Minister\u2019s own charm and vision for the\nfuture of the United Kingdom. However much elements of the British press try to\npaint Mr Johnson as a right-wing populist, nothing could be further from the\ntruth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\na student of Winston Churchill, who in turn was greatly influenced by his\nfather Lord Randolph and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Mr Johnson remains a\nOne Nation Conservative. This does not mean the dismantling of the welfare\nstate, the NHS and enhancing crony capitalism; but indeed believing in the\nUnion of our four nations as one, with social and economic programs that\nbenefit the ordinary person. It was this vision after all, not just Brexit,\nthat won him such a huge majority last Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next 4\nand a half years are going to be interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew\nCrawford. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the midst of this global covid-19 pandemic it has perhaps slipped under the radar somewhat that the Labour Party, Her Majesty\u2019s official opposition, has finally rid itself of \u2018Magic Grandpa\u2019 Jeremy Corbyn \u2013 the man responsible for the Labour Party\u2019s worst election performance since 1935 \u2013 and elected a new leader: Sir Keir Starmer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2570,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2704","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2705,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2704\/revisions\/2705"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}