Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 77,629

Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister Jul 6, 2024 20:46:08 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Jul 6, 2024 20:46:08 GMT

Three years ago Sir Keir Starmer seriously considered quitting as Labour leader.
It was 2021 and his party had just lost the Hartlepool by-election to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.
It was the first time Labour had ever lost the seat. Three short years feel like a political lifetime ago now.
Sir Keir has become only the fifth person in British history to take Labour from opposition to power.
His party has gone from a historic thumping at the general election in 2019 – to victory in 2024.
The Hartlepool result though, is a reminder that Sir Keir’s journey to Downing Street was far from straightforward. In fact, for a long time his life and career were on a very different path.

Under the 2010-15 coalition government, he had to implement significant cuts, with the Crown Prosecution Service’s budget reduced by more than a quarter.
He also oversaw high-profile decisions including the prosecution of MPs over their parliamentary expenses following the 2009 scandal and prosecuting the then Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne for asking his wife to take speeding points for him.
Sir Keir's legal work was rewarded with a knighthood in 2014. But how successful was his leadership?
Towards the end of his tenure, Sir Keir admitted in a BBC interview that vulnerable victims were still being let down by the justice system.

A late career change
It wasn't until the age of 52 that the career change came.
Sir Keir was selected for a safe Labour seat in north London, winning comfortably. He and his predecessor Rishi Sunak became MPs on the same day.
But it wasn’t a happy time for the Labour Party.
The Conservatives had just won the general election and a bitter factional battle loomed after Jeremy Corbyn became leader.

Much has been said and written about Sir Keir’s journey from backbencher to the Labour leadership – and now to Downing Street. But some things are worth highlighting.
When he became leader, Jeremy Corbyn made Sir Keir shadow immigration minister but it didn’t last long.
He resigned after less than a year, one of dozens of frontbenchers who quit after the Brexit referendum in an attempt to force Mr Corbyn out.
When that failed, and Mr Corbyn saw off a leadership challenge, Sir Keir returned to the fold as shadow Brexit secretary.

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 77,629

Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister Jul 6, 2024 20:48:16 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Jul 6, 2024 20:48:16 GMT

Labour in the doldrums
Sir Keir’s position on Mr Corbyn has evolved over time.
In 2019, he was asked on BBC Breakfast to repeat the sentence “Jeremy Corbyn would make a great prime minister”. He did.
A few months later, he would tell the BBC he was “100%” behind Mr Corbyn and working with him to win a general election.
While others refused to serve under Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir stayed in the tent and helped persuade the leader to back a second Brexit referendum at the 2019 election.
That election was a disaster for Labour. Mr Corbyn quit and Sir Keir won the race to replace him.
But when he took over, a lot of people thought Boris Johnson was destined to govern for some time.
Many saw Sir Keir as a leader who could help rebuild – but few thought he was the man who would take them back to power.

When did that change? The polls give us a good indication.
Sir Keir’s Labour trailed Mr Johnson’s Conservatives in the polls for much of 2020 and 2021 when the Hartlepool by-election was held.
But that started to change after the first reports of Downing Street parties during the pandemic, when strict restrictions were in place around social gatherings.
There is a clear point in the polls where Labour overtakes the Conservatives in November 2021.
Its lead increased significantly after the Liz Truss mini budget and has been consistent and significant ever since.

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 77,629

Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister Jul 7, 2024 1:37:37 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Jul 7, 2024 1:37:37 GMT

British Prime Minister Starmer (Labour) said on the 6th that he would ``repeal'' a Conservative government-era law that would have deported immigrants who entered the country illegally to Rwanda in central Africa. This was reported by Reuters and others. In the general election held on the 4th, the Labor Party said it would crack down on smuggling by ``strengthening maritime security'' rather than deporting people to Rwanda.

[Photo summary] Foreign minister is South American, finance minister is first woman; new British government lineup

In recent years, the number of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel by boat has increased in the UK. The Conservative Party had planned to carry out the deportation if it won the general election, but lost in a landslide. Starmer explained the reason for the repeal, saying, ``This deportation proposal is not working as a deterrent (to halt the increase in immigration).''

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 77,629

Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister Jul 7, 2024 22:16:30 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Jul 7, 2024 22:16:30 GMT

A girl who dropped out of school after becoming pregnant at the age of 16 has become number two in the British government, which was inaugurated on the 5th (local time).

The main character is Angela Rayner (44), who was appointed deputy prime minister and secretary for balanced development, housing and communities in Starmer's Labor government, which won an overwhelming victory in the general election. According to the Guardian, Mr Rayner, who was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in 1980, grew up in poverty. In an interview, Rayner confessed, ``My mother couldn't read or write, so there were no books at home.'' From the age of 10, he took care of his manic-depressive mother in place of his father, who never came home. Many times, he was forced to eat dog food because his mother was illiterate.

When she entered junior high school, she started going to nightclubs every night from around the age of 14, until she became pregnant at the age of 16 and dropped out of school.

Admin
Administrator

Posts: 77,629

Keir Starmer: From indie kid to prime minister Jul 9, 2024 22:05:05 GMT

Quote

Post by Admin on Jul 9, 2024 22:05:05 GMT

On the 9th, the 650 elected members of the British House of Commons took their oaths of office in Parliament and met for the first time. According to the list of parliamentary candidates, there were 263 women, making the number over 40% for the first time in British history.

``Constituencies where only women can run'' - UK Labor Party has more than half of its candidates in 30 years

The number of female politicians has increased significantly since the last general election in 2019 (220 people, 33.8%). Of the 412 Labor Party MPs who won an overwhelming victory, 190 (46.1%) were women, pushing up the overall number.

In the UK, there is no "quota system" that requires the ratio of male to female candidates to be above a certain level. Since 1993, the Labor Party has introduced its own policy of recognizing only women in certain constituencies, but it has not adopted it in this election.