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Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

reuters.com

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Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#101

Post by gadders »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #17
stirlo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue isn’t the Labour Party it’s the entire country. Brexit has been a disaster, energy costs are through the roof, housing is becoming more costly, and there’s been no real economic growth in a decade. But no one wants suffer the temporary pain to make the reforms needed to change it. They just want to grumble and say the current leader isn’t any good before moving onto the next one, rather than admitting they…

> no one wants suffer the temporary pain to make the reforms needed to change it If you could get one bill through Parliament, what would it do?

Honestly, go back to the Liz Truss plan. She tried to speed run implementation, but policy-wise it was all there.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#102

Post by PaulHoule »

cryo32 wrote: post #59
PaulHoule wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Starmer has a personality?

God no. None at all. That's what we need though. No more bloody populist snakes!

Trouble is we are bouncing back and forth between centrist politicians who are great at coalition management but systematically sweep problems under the rug [1] and can't connect with people and populist politicians who connect with people but can't govern and flood the zone with bullshit or improperly formulated issues.

One alternative is that we find politicians that can connect and can govern, the other alternative is wait a few decades for the situation that the Club of Rome warned you about to unfold and count on a less complex civilization to be easier to govern.

[1] one cynical take is that it is a primary function of political systems to keep problems off the agenda because the agenda is finite.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#103

Post by padjo »

rapsey wrote: post #70
pjc50 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gridlock is real whether it happens inside or outside the party. This is partly why we're here in the first place! Starmer is out because he couldn't do coalition management inside the Labour party.

He is out because he is an insane ideologue that the vast majority of the country despises.

Starmer being an ideologue is a pretty funny take. I think most people would say he failed because he's a technocrat with no descernible principles or ideas.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#104

Post by gadders »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #94
gadders wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Starmer had a massive majority and could have got whatever was needed passed to sort out public finances, but his MPs rebelled (or he chickened out).

He was elected to ensure nothing corbyn worked for would succeed, and in that sense he was perfect.

I think economics would have ensured that nothing Corbyn worked for succeeded.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#105

Post by intended »

OgsyedIE wrote: post #14

Whilst the value of the pound and NHS backlog did slowly improve under Starmer, my favourite part of his term was the 2024 interview where he described himself as not dreaming or having internal thoughts. I don't expect huge improvements under Burnham but I hope for at least some police manpower numbers to recover. There have been intermittent stories of planning, FSA and trading standards personnel being threatened…

In the end the state needs money, which it lacks.

Maybe devolution will unlock revenue or growth?

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#106

Post by rapsey »

padjo wrote: post #103
rapsey wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is out because he is an insane ideologue that the vast majority of the country despises.

Starmer being an ideologue is a pretty funny take. I think most people would say he failed because he's a technocrat with no descernible principles or ideas.

Diversity over everything. Does not care about anything else. He is not a technocrat, to be a technocrat he would need to have evidence based policy, which he clearly did not. He is a pure, single minded, ideologue. Every event, every opportunity was just a conduit to express his single mindless slogan of diversity being our strength.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#107

Post by gaiagraphia »

gadders wrote: post #97
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting constantly distracted by foreign-policy items 90% of voters barely care about is how the UK wound up in this mess.

Oh agreed. If anyone cares that much travel back to whichever country they support and enlist. Also renounce your British citizenship at the same time.

I practically beelined to Ukraine when the war broke out and dedicated a good 2 months to humanitarian work. I've probably achieved more independently than huge organised movements with probable nation state backing.

Huge amounts of funding, huge election talking points, hundreds of thousands of people, entire student bodies, propaganda networks, and what quantifiable achievements have been made? It all comes off as a preformative social occasion with 0 goals.

Have far more respect for those who put their money where their mouth is and actually joined ISIS than the professional protestor caste.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#108

Post by mellosouls »

greengreengrass wrote: post #69
mbmbn wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why undemocratic? I thought parliamentary elections in UK worked like in most of Europe: you vote for a party, not a candidate. At least here, it already happened, to have the PM resigning and then someone else from the party to pick up the role and that’s legally sound.

> I thought parliamentary elections in UK worked like in most of Europe: you vote for a party, not a candidate. They are. It's a parliamentary system, not a presidential system. Nobody votes directly for who will become PM, who is ultimately selected by the monarch as the person who can best command a majority of the House of Commons – normally the leader of the biggest party, of course, but not necessarily. Perpetua…

(gp commenter)

a common talking point perpetuated by a poor understanding of the constitutional basis of UK elections

Please don't presume.

I'm fully aware of the parliamentary vs presidential basis of our government, but it's naive to think the leader of the party isn't a significant factor in whether a party gets elected - that's the whole basis of the current situation!

People voted for a combination of Kier Starmer, Labour, and their local constituency MP - and to get rid of the Tories.

That landslide election result is now being subverted by internal Labour panic, mainstream media stirring up stories and the egos of his competitors (on top of course of any Labour and Starmer failings).

The idea that people voted strictly along paper theoretical purist party lines is for the birds.

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#109

Post by davidguetta »

Hopefully the successor will clean the mess still left realted to the Pakistani rape gangs and police collusion.

The entire UK society seem to have been trying to ignore the issue rather than solve the root of it (which is not necessarily immigration itself but political correctness)

Re: Britain's prime minister to step down, Burnham puts himself forward as successor

#110

Post by sph »

cryo32 wrote: post #59
PaulHoule wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean Starmer has a personality?

God no. None at all. That's what we need though. No more bloody populist snakes!

> No more bloody populist snakes!

And who are the idiots, the pensioners, the facebook dwelling, the Daily Mail reading knuckle draggers gonna vote?

You get Farage because people want a Farage. I mean, have you seen what happened across the pond?

The dumb people, those with endless thirst for easy solution to complex problems, are the ones deciding the fate of the country. They’re the first ones lining up at the voting booth.

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