Tag: rishi-sunak

5^th July 2024

The keys to the door – Kier Starmer about to enter 10, Downing St

Having smuggled the metaphorical Ming vase across the threshold of 10, Downing St, Kier Starmer and his team need to decide whether its fragility is worth preserving or whether they just smash it and take advantage of their massive 170 seat majority to effect real change.  Given the character of Starmer and his team the prospect is that the vase will sit quietly on the mantelpiece ready to be dusted off in 2029.

The scale of the Labour majority may give the illusion that the politics of Starmer and the Labour leadership have swept the country and that they expect to be hoist aloft on the shoulders of the people.  The reality is not so clear cut.

Interviewed on Radio Four today architect of New Labour, right wing Labour henchman Peter (now Lord) Mandelson, described the Labour victory as ‘efficient’.  Mandelson pointed out that Labour did not just stack up votes in safe constituencies but managed to gain seats in more marginal areas too.  However, much of this was as a result of Reform splitting the Tory vote in some areas with the Lib Dems taking votes from the Tories in others.  The collapse of the fractured and fractious SNP in Scotland was also a contributory factor.

The national turnout was low at 60% with Labour only gaining 35% of the votes across the country, slightly up on the 33% achieved under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2019 but well down on the 40% share Corbyn achieved in the 2017 General Election.   Jeremy Corbyn retaining his seat as an Independent in Islington North was a small victory for the Left and the election of four other Independents on the back of Labour’s weak position on Israeli genocide in Gaza signalled to Starmer that there will be more progressive voices of dissent in the House of Commons.

The single word which characterised Labour’s campaign and was the title of its manifesto was Change.  Starmer spent much of the campaign not just emphasising the word change in the context of change for the country but change in the context of the Labour Party itself.  The purge of many on the Left, over recent years, is certainly testament to Starmer’s efforts at internal change.  This was characterised by the imposition of Starmer friendly candidates in many constituencies, ensuring a House of Commons that will be largely compliant and reliant on the largesse of the leader.

The reality of the next five years is going to be one in which the adjective ‘superficial’ could precede the change mantra which is Starmer’s watchword.   The pledge of Starmer to ‘unite the country’, in his first speech outside Downing Street, presupposes that the country can be united, Irish Republicans and Scottish Nationalists will disagree, or that the interests of conflicting classes can be harmonised.  There is no evidence that Labour will do anything to stop the rich getting richer or that they will fundamentally challenge the causes of poverty which are endemic to capitalism as a system.

For the working class however, there is no doubt that getting the Tories out of government is a step forward.  A Labour government at least gives the possibility of more progressive policies with the prospect of influence from the Left, from the trade union movement and from mass extra parliamentary action, potentially shifting Labour in a more positive direction.

Once the flurry of excitement about the Tory meltdown subsides the job of ensuring Labour is more focused on the issues in towns and backstreets, rather than the City of London, must be a priority.  The rise of so-called populism, in the form of the Reform vote, offering the illusion of easy answers to complex problems, will need to be tackled in working class communities. 

The importance of the need for real change, socialist change, as the only answer to really address the needs of working class communities will need to be articulated.   There is certainly no sense that the Labour leadership under Starmer will do this but until it is part of Labour campaigning, simply repeating the mantra ‘change’ will not be enough to make it happen.

26^th May 2024

Rishi Sunak in Belfast this week – life jacket essential!

The decision by British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to call a General Election for 4^th July has been greeted with bemusement, not least within his own Party.  The merest hint of economic good news, that prices continue to rise but by 2.3% rather than the double figures of a year ago, seemed to be enough to fire the starting gun for the campaign trail.

However, given the predictions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), neither of which hold out much hope for growth in the British economy over the next year, July may be Sunak’s best, if still slim, hope.

The OECD see growth at 0.4% this year with the IMF suggesting 0.7%.  The IMF went on to suggest that the government’s sums for the next five years would see a £30 billion gap between what it proposed to spend and the amount it expected to raise in revenue.  True to form the IMF suggested that the government would need to increase borrowing, raise taxes or cut public spending to meet these targets.  With Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ruling out more borrowing, proposing to cut taxes, that just leaves another assault on public services in prospect if the Tories did pull off the minor miracle of re-election.

While Sunak pores over economic spreadsheets and concerns himself with the opinion of the Financial Times readership, the outlook in the real world is quite different.  Quite apart from the catastrophe of 14 years of Tory government, with the damage inflicted upon public services and working class communities, there is the fact that since the calamity of the Liz Truss mini-budget alone shop prices are 20% higher than they were in 2021.  For families eking out a living on the margins, forced to make the dreaded choice of whether to heat or eat, these figures have a massive impact.  Inflation reducing to 2.3% will make little difference.

The first few days of campaigning have reinforced the sense that Sunak is out of touch with the real world.  His initial announcement outside 10, Downing St in a torrent of rain, was to a serenade of Things Can Only Get Better, quite audible in the background.  As the rain poured and the music blared, Sunak did not look like a man with any grip on his destiny.

The week has continued with a visit to the Titanic museum in Belfast, prompting a journalistic wit to ask if Sunak was the captain of a sinking ship.  One senior Tory has been quoted as saying,

“It’s quite staggering that we’ve managed to call a snap election that took ourselves by surprise.”

Not exactly a vote of confidence.   Former leadership candidates, Andrea Leadsom and Michael Gove have announced that they will not be standing for re-election.  Gove is misleadingly described as a ‘big beast’ in the Tory ranks, though the only jungle creature he shares traits with is of the distinctly reptilian variety.

The latest Tory attempt at a vote winning campaign wheeze has been the announcement to bring back National Service, compelling all 18 year olds to serve a year in the armed forces or be engaged in some form of community service.    Clearly Tory focus groups have not included anyone in the youth demographic, for whom this suggestion will have all of the buoyancy of a lead balloon.  No doubt young people will already be mobilising to resist the call up.  Another five weeks of this and Labour’s strategy of saying as little as possible will begin to look astute!

The Guardian columnist, Marina Hyde, has characterised the approach of Kier Starmer as being like “watching a very buttoned up man try not to have an accident.”   It is certainly true that the Labour leadership could be more adventurous and that the commitment to supporting working class communities and trade union rights could be more robust.  The six point plan announced by Kier Starmer is very much a dilution of the platform upon which he was elected leader and has been countered by the Left in the form of the Socialist Correspondent, which has suggested the following 6 steps towards peace and socialism:-

• Peace and Non-Alignment
• Sustainability
• Health and Education
• Public Ownership
• Public Housing
• Democratic and Workers’ Rights

The full article articulating the case for the above points can be found here https://www.facebook.com/story.php?id=100064546488320&story_fbid=846049760889899&__n=K

A vote for Labour will be essential in order to get the Tories out.  A Labour government led by Kier Starmer however, will need to be kept under constant pressure not to succumb to the demands of the City of London and big business, not to make working class communities pay for the failings of the capitalist system and to begin the process of real, not just superficial, change in the interests of the working class. 

The next five weeks will be crucial in ensuring the election of a Labour government; the following five years will be even more crucial, in ensuring that a government serving the interests of the working class emerges.

19^th May 2024

Starmer drama but where is the plot?

Much of the presentation of political debate in Britain, by political parties and the news media, is couched as theatre.  Clashes at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons are regularly reported in dramatic terms.  Head to head television debates at election times pit candidates against one another with billings worthy of heavyweight boxing title fights. Personalities, rather than policies become the stuff of tabloid headlines as the popularity of TV soap opera is translated into political drama.

Presentation has become as important as content for those seeking the keys to 10, Downing St.  With a General Election just months away the respective teams of Kier Starmer and Rishi Sunak are developing their communications plans and public relations strategies with a vengeance, in the hope of getting their man more media time, more positive coverage and more votes when it comes to the crunch of an actual election.

This week’s set piece from Kier Starmer was the presentation of Labour’s six point plan, an event which could not have been more theatrical.  With a team of Shadow Cabinet colleagues behind him and an audience in front Starmer, in rolled up shirt sleeves, no jacket or tie, was presenting as a man who just wanted to get on with the job and get things done.  TV cameras and news media were there of course to capture the key moments and translate them into the headlines such dramatic presentation was deemed to warrant.

The six points were emblazoned above Starmer,

• Crackdown on anti-social behaviour
• Launch a new Border Security Command
• Deliver economic stability
• Set up Great British Energy
• Cut NHS waiting times
• Recruit 6,500 new teachers

All very rehearsed and choreographed, no doubt tested through focus groups and with a certain type of Labour activist, but does this list represent the concerns of working class communities, where parents may be working two jobs to pay the bills, where the cost of childcare may mean the difference between taking a job or not, where Carer’s Allowance is being clawed back if earnings creep a penny over the princely sum of £151 per week?

Apparently, Kier Starmer does not mind being compared to former Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, because Blair was a three times General Election winner, and who would not want that comparison?  Which gives away Starmer’s philosophy entirely.  Winning elections only matters if changes are made as a result of election victories, the winning in itself is unimportant otherwise.

Blair’s three election victories did not result in reversing the anti trade union laws of the Thatcher years.  They did not abolish the right to buy which has seen the run down of Council housing stock and the decline of affordable homes.  They did not reverse the privatisation of water and energy companies and prevent private shareholders from reaping vast dividend payouts while bills soared.  They did not reverse the break up of the comprehensive education system, abolish university fees or impose greater regulation upon the City of London, to prevent the gambling, greed and speculation which led to the 2008 financial crash.

The Blair/Brown years of Labour government did not see a reversal of the damage done by the Thatcher/Major Tory governments but a consolidation of the errors, an acceptance of neoliberal economics and the cult of the individual as being of key importance, rather than the collective wellbeing of the community.

There is nothing in the six points outlined by Starmer that Rishi Sunak would not sign up to or disagree with.  There is nothing which suggests a challenge to the status quo or any shift in the balance of power from the entitled few to the downtrodden many.  Starmer describes the plan as Labour’s first steps on a mission towards change but after 15 years of Tory imposed austerity working class communities are crying out for giant strides not baby steps.

Is it possible to be a mere shadow of something which does not have substance?  If so, Starmer fits the bill as being a mere shadow of Tony Blair who, in spite of his election victories, did nothing to improve the lives of working class communities.  Starmer is set on the same course, in danger of taking working class votes for granted, an election victory for granted and hoping that a programme which does nothing to scare the King’s horses will be enough to get him there.

It is said that history may at first play out as tragedy but repeats itself as farce.  The Blair/Brown Labour governments tragically let down the working class, keeping capitalism safe for the ruling class and the return of the Tories in 2010.  While voting Labour at the General Election will be necessary, after so many years of Tory austerity, we must resist the danger of a Keir Starmer government keeping the seats at the Cabinet table warm for the return of the Tories in five years time.

Mass extra Parliamentary action to compel a Labour government to act in the interests of the working class and to develop a manifesto for real change is vital in the run up to the General Election and beyond.  Without it we will have a Tory-lite, Blair-lite episode from Labour and it may matter little who wins an election in five years time.

3rd March 2024

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives an address outside 10 Downing Street on Friday, where he said the country’s democracy was under threat

The phoney ‘address to the nation’ by British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, on Friday night was both pathetic and dangerous.  Pathetic that a Prime Minister should be so threatened by the election of narcissist George Galloway in Rochdale that he felt compelled to use it as an excuse to demonise those opposed to the ongoing genocide committed by the Israeli state in Gaza.  Dangerous because by effectively characterising those protesting in favour of Palestinian rights as anti-democratic ‘extremists’, Sunak moves Britian closer to being a fully fledged police state.

The way for Galloway’s victory had been paved by the Labour Party who initially rushed their selection process to ensure a popular Muslim candidate, then just as quickly disowned him for overheard comments about the nature of the Israeli action in Gaza, deeming them anti-semitic.  Without a Labour candidate Galloway was able to galvanise the pro-Palestinian vote amongst Rochdale’s Muslim population while also tapping into the general discontent with Labour’s line on Gaza amongst many other voters in the constituency.

Sunak’s address followed closely upon the massacre of 100 Palestinians in a single day by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), for the crime of being hungry and crowding an aid convoy.  The United Nations have clarified that many of those injured suffered gunshot wounds, others were trampled in the confusion as the IDF clearly lost control and resorted to their tried and tested gung ho methods.

Sunak mentioned none of this in his address, instead focussing upon criticising the democratic objections raised by thousands of people week in, week out across Britain, reflecting the majority of world opinion, that an immediate ceasefire in Gaza must be implemented.  Instead of backing the majority view Labour leader, Kier Starmer, sided with Sunak saying that he was right to call for ‘unity’. 

That Starmer should give Sunak’s comments any credence, in a week when Sunak failed to call out his Party former Vice Chairman, Lee Anderson, for racist remarks about London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is alarming but sadly not surprising.  The Tory record on racism and Islamophobia is far worse than Labour’s has ever been on the manufactured anti-semitism charges, yet Starmer seems unable or unwilling to land punches in this regard.

It is little wonder that Starmer was the focus of George Galloway’s comments after winning in Rochdale stating,

“I want to tell Mr Starmer, above all, that the plates have shifted tonight. This is going to spark a movement, a landslide, a shifting of the tectonic plates in scores of parliamentary constituencies, beginning here in the north-west, in the West Midlands, in London, from Ilford to Bethnal Green and Bow.”

This is typical Galloway bluster and there is little real indication that tectonic plates have shifted, or even that Galloway would retain his Rochdale seat at a General Election.  However, the Rochdale result does send a message to both major parties that their line on Israel and the attack on the Palestinian people is not playing well with the broader public.  The Tories openly pro-Israeli line clearly marks them as being on the side of a regime willing to treat international law with impunity, trample upon human rights and continue to justify arming the regime guilty of such crimes.

It is ironic that the second anniversary of the Russian intervention in Ukraine was marked by nationalist leader Volodymyr Zelensky bemoaning the loss of 31,000 lives over the two year period.  The same number have been killed by the IDF in Gaza in less than five months.

The Labour leadership position of equivocation and studious avoidance of backing the cause of Palestinian rights has left them looking as unprincipled as the Tories.  Desperate to say what they think people want to hear, based on the editorial positions of the right wing media, the Labour leadership lack any sense of cohesion on Middle East policy other than hanging onto the coat tails of the Tories.

The protests in support of the rights of the Palestinian people will and must continue.  The over policing of such demonstrations, designed to suggest that they pose a threat, must stop.  The Labour leadership must unequivocally back the international call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

While Rishi Sunak may characterise those protesting for Palestinian rights as extremists, the real extremists are the religious fundamentalists in the Israeli leadership, those who continue to back them and those who profit from ongoing arms sales to the apartheid regime.

Sunak’s attempt to characterise the election of George Galloway and the groundswell of support for Palestinian rights as a threat to democracy and ‘our shared values’ must be exposed for the opportunist sham that it is.  The only values recognised by Sunak and his cronies are to keep their corrupt leadership in positions of power and influence.  Those are not, and will never be, values shared by the working class in Britian or the people of Palestine.

7^th January 2024

Labour leader Kier Starmer – “credible hope” his best offer to date

Elections will dominate the political narrative on both sides of the Atlantic in 2024.  In the United States the Presidential election scheduled for 5 November is already being dominated by the prospect of another run by the narcissist, Donald Trump, with many predicting a victory over Joe Biden a distinct possibility if Trump wins the Republican nomination.

At present two states, Colorado and Maine, have disqualified Trump from the Republican ballot on the grounds of inciting insurrection.  Whether such a judgement will pass the test with the Supreme Court, where it is currently heading, remains to be seen.  However, should Trump clear these hurdles he is a racing certainty to be the Republican nominee based on current polling estimates.

That does not make a Trump second term a certainty by any means but it does raise it as a distinct possibility.  Such constraints as there were during Trump’s first term would undoubtedly be swept aside as the team around Trump are already making clear.  The independence of the judiciary and decisions on who does and does not get prosecuted are already in Trump’s sights.  This would raise the prospect of Trump being able to pardon himself and his cronies, as well as launching investigations into his enemies.

Trump’s take on whether he planned to rule as a dictator when asked by Fox News was telling,

“Except for day one”, he said, “After that, I’m not a dictator.”

Which begs the question as to how long ‘day one’ will last.

Trump’s take on foreign policy has been famously myopic.  Fears within the US political establishment centre around Trump abandoning NATO and, for some Democrats, cutting off the weapons supply to Ukraine.  However, there is nothing to suggest that Trump would not remain gung ho in relation to US attitudes towards China, Iran or the wider Middle East, with support for Israel not likely to be up for discussion.

Biden has actively embraced the role of the US as the world’s policeman, ready to intervene whenever or wherever perceived US ‘interests’ are at stake.  While Trump’s rhetoric may sound different, to keep on board his home crowd, the forces which shape the wider objectives of US imperialism will not be so easily persuaded to change course.

Democracy US style has always been an illusion, being based on the bankrolling of candidates by private individuals and corporations seeking to gain the most influence.  A Biden/Trump face off in November will be no different.  However, while a Trump return to the White House would signal a further shift to the right in the political centre of gravity in the US, would wider policy objectives for US imperialism change fundamentally?.

November is still a long way off and a lot can happen in US politics over the months till then.  Writing off Trump being back in the White House in January 2025 though is not something which should be contemplated yet.

In Britain lame duck Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has indicated that a General Election will not take place until the second half of the year.  The timing of the election is up to Sunak however, so the option of a snap May election cannot be ruled out, depending upon how Sunak and his cohorts see the political landscape as shaping.  With a first draft of the Covid19 Inquiry report being promised by the summer for example, Sunak may want to cut and run before Tory failings during the pandemic become too exposed.

So far Sunak has pinned his hopes on achieving the five pledges he made last year being, halving inflation; stopping the boats; growing the economy; cutting NHS waiting lists; and reducing the national debt.

While inflation has reduced, prices remain high and continue to be a burden for many working class families. Also, a multiplicity of factors contribute to the inflation figures, of which government action is only one.  Most factors are beyond immediate government control.  Attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea, which may force trade to take longer routes and push up the price of goods, being a case in point.

Sunak’s desire to ‘stop the boats’, the Tories jingoistic excuse for a comprehensive policy on migration, continues to be mired in controversy, not least the forcible repatriation to Rwanda scheme, which has so far cost £240 million without a plane taking off.

The economy is in such a parlous state, due to years of Tory austerity and underinvestment, that growth is flatlining and Britain is on the brink of being declared officially in recession.  NHS waiting lists are exacerbated by the government’s refusal to negotiate seriously with junior doctors, who have effectively been forced into further industrial action in pursuit of their pay claim.  While the Tories and right wing media do their best to blame cancelled operations and waiting lists on the doctors action the government’s intransigence is widely seen as the real source.

As for reducing the national debt, this hit its highest level of 2023 in November, the latest month for which data is available, at 97.5% of gross domestic product (GDP).  This is expected to rise to 97.9% by the end of the financial year in March.

All of which should leave the Labour Party shooting into an open goal and hitting the back of the net with a series of clear policies for change.  So far however the Labour leadership’s position has been hedged by uncertainty and a lack of clear commitments.

The £28bn per year pledge to invest in green technologies has been diluted to a desire to hit that target in the second half of a Parliament, hardly transformational change.  The promise to abolish university fees has become one to make student fees fairer and more “progressive”.  Any tax cuts for working class people are dependant upon economic growth and there are no plans to increase the taxes upon the rich.

On the subject of the junior doctors action, when pressed as to whether he would make a higher offer Starmer responded with,

“I don’t want these strikes to go ahead.”

Hardly a recognition of the justified action of NHS staff in the face of government intransigence.

As the election approaches Labour’s position will have to become clearer.  The fear for many on the Left and in working class communities is that the clarity will not be coupled with a sharpened attack on the underlying inequities which are endemic to capitalism and the need for transformational change in favour of working class communities.   The best Kier Starmer could offer in his recent New Year speech was “credible hope”, hardly a fiery rallying cry!

On both sides of the Atlantic this year elections may bring about the appearance of change but there is little sign that they will make a huge difference.