HAS any British Prime Minister had a more catastrophic honeymoon period on winning a General Election than Sir Keir Starmer?
The resignation of Sue Gray, his chief of staff, comes after only 94 days in office, and further adds to his growing catalogue of miscalculations. This includes penalising pensioners with the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment, and demonstrating incredible greed through acquiring a staggering array of freebie gifts. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “glass, china, and reputation are easily crack’d, and never well mended”.
READ MORE: SNP MP accuses Labour of 'colonial mindset' over Sue Gray envoy role
Liz Truss lasted only 49 days as PM, but it must be remembered that she had not just won a landslide election. Sir Keir has no such excuse. He has been handed one of the largest parliamentary majorities in history, and yet seems to have entered office with no coherent plan, and we are now seeing voters express buyers’ remorse with a speed that is unprecedented.
Until the Truss debacle, George Canning had held the highest office for the shortest time: just 119 days in 1827. But Canning insisted on being Chancellor of the Exchequer as well as PM and worked himself to death in short order.
Starmer is also unique in his ability to spread doom and gloom, and I cannot recollect any former PM in modern history, given the mandate won, losing popularity so rapidly.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
SIR Keir Starmer is not having it all his own way, in fact he is having no honeymoon, he is having a nightmare of a start to his term as PM.
First his government’s unforgivable attack on pensioners with the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment, then the exposure of all the freebies, not just to himself, but to other members of his government and now the main donor himself is being investigated!
READ MORE: Labour's two-child cap 'pushing 100 children into poverty every day'
Now, three months into his tenure, we have yet another catastrophe for the PM. His Chief of Staff Sue Gray is moving on to pastures new as a result of, well, was it a resignation or a push? Pastures new is not altogether true, because Ms Gray is becoming Sir Keir’s “envoy for the regions and nations”, so still remaining in touch with the government and still being paid by the public purse. Only three months in power and a mini reshuffle has been necessary!
Labour called for voters to vote for “change” and got into power, however recent goings-on in Downing Street seem very familiar.
Catriona C Clark
Falkirk
WHAUR’S Anas?
Apart from artfully performing for the cameras every Thursday lunchtime at FMQs, with passion contrived over the unfortunate experience of the latest untypically unhappy NHS patient located by his “spads”, not even a squeak is heard from the invisible puppet as his master abandons Scotland, its economy and its people.
In spite of the many promises, the Tories did not come through with funding for the Acorn carbon capture project and did not step in when staunch Brexit supporter Jim Ratcliffe (who has since moved his residence to Monaco) first announced the planned cessation of oil-refining at Grangemouth. Keir Starmer has not only failed to honour previous UK Government promises, he appears to be doing everything feasible, apart from setting up sham offices for a fake energy company in Scotland, to undermine Scotland’s future economic prosperity.
READ MORE: Vote for Scottish Labour if you want a broken nuclear future
The Acorn project should have been up and running years ago and UK Government financial support of £600 million should have been targeted at upgrading Grangemouth facilities instead of backing Ratcliffe’s new Ineos petrochemical plant in Belgium. The pulling of the promised investment of £800m for the University of Edinburgh “exascale” supercomputer “with the potential to revolutionise breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, medicine and clean low-carbon energy” is totally at odds with any stated ambition to help to grow Scotland’s economy.
While retaining the two-child cap is a blight from which some of the poorest families suffer across the “United Kingdom”, the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment impacts poor pensioners in coldest Scotland most, especially as they will now be paying even more for their energy. Calls for the Scottish Government to magically conjure up the resultant sudden funding loss of £160m are either disingenuous or totally naive.
Of course, if Labour’s Scottish charlatan is not prepared to speak up for Scotland when he has no responsibility for taking any government action, surely only a fool would believe that he will find his voice should enough people sadly be duped into voting for his party at the next Scottish election?
Stan Grodynski
Longniddry, East Lothian
DID I read that right in Monday’s edition? Only 21% of the eligible voters turned out in the Lochee ward for a council by-election.
The main reason we suffer under corrupt politicians, and are ruled by another country, is that so few people take an interest in what’s going on.
Dazzled by personal technology, vacuous television, alcohol and a shallow lifestyle punted by moneymakers, the majority have been distracted from asking questions. All part of our establishment’s plan.
READ MORE: Labour blame Winter Fuel Payment cut for by-election losses
Although it is true that voting changes nothing much, the non-voters are not taking the time and trouble to look at what politicians are up to. It’s no use pleading that people are powerless: on the contrary, people who are organised can effect huge changes, even in a pretend democracy like ours.
Unfortunately the “me” society fostered by Thatcher has reduced the chance of effective organisation to almost nil.
Jim Butchart
via email
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