Keir Starmer’s 10 Socialist Pledges: Forensic Gaslighting?
Published
by
Richard Kuper
JVL Introduction
Were Keir Starmer’s ten socialist pledges “statements of principle or a cynical attempt to win the support of the contingent of left-wing members” – those who had given Jeremy Corbyn two leadership victories?
A year later, what is left of these ten pledges?
Not much, according to Steve McCracken and The Free Press.
Thanks to them we repost this forensic dissection of Keir Starmer’s 10 pledges and their fate…
This article was originally published by The Free Press on Sun 28 Mar 2021. Read the original here.
Keir Starmer’s 10 Socialist Pledges: Forensic Gaslighting?
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Do you remember a turning point in Russia when the Communist “Old Guard” mounted a military coup against “Reformer” Gorbachov##?
What struck me during those 3 days was how “hollowed out” Russian political life had become. The Communist “Old Guard” had no public support – but the “Reformer” hadn’t yet earnt any. So Russia waited it out. It was only the unpredictable intervention of the Mayor of Moscow which defeated the coup.
UK democracy is similarly “hollowed out” now. Murdoch can PERHAPS defeat candidates he doesn’t like; but he can’t win genuine support for his chosen one. Over the next few years, the UK faces a succession of catastrophes which will cause huge personal damage to almost all voters. Under such pressure voters will decide for themselves whom to follow, based on their individual perceptions concerning which leader is their family’s safest bet. They’ll disregard Murdoch’s opinions.
When “push comes to shove”, I think both Johnson and Starmer will be rejected … and (the hidden contender?) David Miliband won’t get a look-in.
“Sir Keir is a wet wipe, an empty suit […] And he’s your next PM – if Murdoch and co. say so.”
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But why would they say so? Murdoch and co. will always be able to extract more from the Tories than from even a totally supine Labour Party. (Labour no longer has the gifts in terms press control and back-door privatisation which New Labour used to bribe Murdoch.)
Labour came closest to winning a recent general election in 2017 – when they directly challenged the corporate media, and Britain’s grossly unequal society generally.
If Starmer carries on as he has done (and he will), he will find that he loses the traditional, old left in the north (and they are still strong, even in ‘red wall’ seats), and the ‘new left’ in the south. Old left, new left – not much left for Starmer.
Good to hear it said without any ambiguity that Murdoch decides who is going to govern us. It is also good to hear said the extent to which Starmer pretended to align himself with Corbyn so as to con us into thinking that he, Starmer, shared any of Corbyns policies. it was no accident that Starmer was so often seen with Corbyn when discussing Brexit
As for Lindas belief that anyone will “disregard Murdochs opinions” when choosing a PM, I dont think so. In fifty years I have yet to see the great British public do anything else but obey their instructions.
It is worth noting about Blair’s commitment to Murdoch an interview he gave with his former press supremo Alastair Campbell in GQ Magazine (1918?) wherein Blair was asked whether he had any regrets, and the one he chose was agreeing to give Murdoch a controlling voice before the 1997 General Election. When backbencher Jeremy Corbyn invited members of Sein Fein to Parliament without seeking consent from the then Chief Whip, Donald Dewar; JC was threatened with losing the Labour Party whip. However, this did not happen (source: Tony Benn’s last volume of memoirs “Free At Last’)
Starmer is a fraud, a total disgrace, and if he had one iota of decency, he would resign.
In my honest opinion, as a 76 year old who has been a Labour Party member for thirty years, Keir Starmer is the worst leader ever, a nasty bully, a coward, a manipulator, untrustworthy, uninspiring, incompetent and counterproductive.
And the bottom line is when we wake up every morning for the next 6 months we need to recruit new and old members to vote in the forthcoming leadership election
Use every level of communication to urge folk to get on board
Its not rocket science