All posts tagged: Jeremy Corbyn

Britain’s local elections are haunted by the Middle East – POLITICO

Britain’s local elections are haunted by the Middle East – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Lots of people feel very strongly, both about their local services as they should do and feel equally strongly about the fact that there’s a reprehensible genocide happening,” he said. The extra scrutiny facing the Greens in recent days does appear to be having an impact — and not in the direction Polanski wants. A YouGov poll published Wednesday of 2,377 British adults conducted on May 4 and 5 found 47 percent had an unfavorable view of Polanski — his worst rating since becoming leader, and up eight points from 39 percent in a previous poll on April 28 and 29. Just 22 percent had a favorable view. The pollster noted negativity towards the Green leader rose the most among voters who backed rival parties at the 2024 election, including the Lib Dems and the Tories. Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, said: “Green candidates who campaign on Gaza seek expressive support for issues that local councillors have limited influence over.” Muslim voters concerned about Gaza are not one monolithic group but …

Pro-Starmer think tank Labour Together plans major overhaul after scandal – POLITICO

Pro-Starmer think tank Labour Together plans major overhaul after scandal – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“I think we’re going to have a more traditional think tank mode,” she said. “But our mission remains for Labour to win and govern well, and there’s no shirking from that. We are proudly into the concept of winning in a way that sometimes gets lost elsewhere.” With more of Starmer’s closest allies becoming engulfed in the ongoing scandal about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the U.K.’s ambassador to the United States, a group of MPs on the left of Labour have attempted to pin the blame on the organization. Last week, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell called for an independent inquiry into an organization which he argued was responsible for the “toxic culture” in Downing Street. “A lot of it is completely, utterly bonkers,” Phillips said in response. “I mean this idea that they are sort of trying to connect us with Mandelson. He has nothing to do with this. The idea that we should be blamed for literally every bit of Labour policy that’s happened at any point in history, that’s not right.” More …

Chants of ‘Keir Starmer’s a w*****’ erupt as protestors celebrate death of Iranian leader | UK | News

Chants of ‘Keir Starmer’s a w*****’ erupt as protestors celebrate death of Iranian leader | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Large crowds chanted “Keir Starmer’s a w******” in a clip apparently shot on the streets of London on Saturday night following the death of Iran’s supreme leader. The unverified footage, shared widely on social media, shows hundreds of people, mostly young men, many wearing kippahs. Others are waving Iranian flags. The location is unclear. Commenting on X, Chris Rose, who describes himself as a “concerned conservative”, said: “Keir Starmer’s a w*****!’ ”Chanted by Persian and Jews celebrating in London tonight. Fantastic.” Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed an emergency “No War on Iran” rally in London’s Trafalgar Square following the joint US-Israeli strikes. He denounced the military action as a “flagrant breach of international law” and warned that the Trump administration’s “Epic Fury” operation risked plunging the region into a “catastrophic and avoidable” larger conflict. The event sparked immediate controversy because the crowd Mr Corbyn addressed included individuals carrying pro-regime imagery, such as portraits of the late Ayatollah Khamenei and Iranian state flags. While the former Labour leader framed his participation as a principled stand …

4 Labour politicians on why it’s so hard to boot flailing leaders – POLITICO

4 Labour politicians on why it’s so hard to boot flailing leaders – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

She adds: “It’s so rare for there to be a Labour prime minister. We owe that person the opportunity because he’s the person that got us into power.” 3) Labour’s rulebook can be impenetrable — Gloria De Piero, served under Jeremy Corbyn Gloria De Piero knows first-hand how intractable Labour’s rules be. She resigned from Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet in 2016 as part of an orchestrated coup to displace the hard-left Labour leader. A vast swathe of Labour’s Parliamentary Labour Party opposed Corbyn at the time. Mutinous MPs launched a vote of no-confidence in Corbyn, in which he was defeated overwhelmingly by 172 votes to 40. But unlike the Tory system, votes of no-confidence are “non-binding” and so can be happily ignored by the leader. Following the failed coup, rebellious MPs were forced to resort to a leadership contest. This failed because “the members were full square behind Jeremy Corbyn.” She remembers darkly: “We were utterly miserable. People were drinking too much — well, I was. Nobody knew how to get out of it.” While …

How to topple the British prime minister in 5 easy steps – POLITICO

How to topple the British prime minister in 5 easy steps – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

They must win the support of 5 percent of Labour’s constituency parties, or at least three of the party’s formal “affiliate” bodies including two trade unions. This is not always a formality, as Emily Thornberry — now chair of the Commons’ foreign affairs committee — discovered when she failed to reach the local party threshold when running against Starmer in 2020. Two of the four officials noted above suggested that Wes Streeting — despite being widely seen as a frontrunner — could struggle during this stage, as many unions and constituency parties regard his politics as not left-wing enough. A third official said this was inaccurate, given there has been an exodus of left-wing members from the party. Step 5: Go to the party Whoever pulls through the initial stages — probably three candidates at the most — will go through to a final vote of Labour’s members. The result is difficult to predict, as many of the most left-wing members who joined under Jeremy Corbyn in the late 2010s have exited the party. In …

Mandelson crisis puts Starmer in his moment of greatest peril – POLITICO

Mandelson crisis puts Starmer in his moment of greatest peril – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Left-wing former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, long cast out of the party over comments on antisemitism, went on Sky News to say Starmer may even be challenged before local elections, which will be held across the U.K. in May. Others were new converts to immediate action. A fifth Labour MP, a moderate who entered parliament in 2024, also said McSweeney should go now. They lamented the “blind spot for many in the leadership” who allowed Mandelson to become ambassador. It has left some MPs angry and dejected. One, Sarah Owen, made an impassioned intervention in Wednesday’s debate: “Don’t we need to put the victims at the heart of this, not just ourselves?” But they will have to wait if they want the facts behind the case to become clear. MPs agreed on Wednesday night to release a series of documents concerning the diligence and vetting around Mandelson’s appointment, as well as communications he had with McSweeney, ministers, civil servants and special advisers in the six months before his appointment. Starmer had intended to block the …

The Labour tribes shaping Britain’s Brexit reset – POLITICO

The Labour tribes shaping Britain’s Brexit reset – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

To Starmer’s left, backbench rebels including Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler backed the push toward a customs union by the opposition Lib Dems. The members of the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group frame their argument around fears Labour will lose voters to other progressive parties, namely the Lib Dems, Greens and SNP, if they fail to show adequate bonds with Europe. Some other, more centrist MPs fear similar. Labour MPs with a military background or in military-heavy seats also want the U.K. and EU to cooperate further. London MP Calvin Bailey, who spent more than two decades in the Royal Air Force, endorsed closer security relations between Britain and France through greater intelligence sharing and possibly permanent infrastructure. Alex Baker, whose Aldershot constituency is known as the home of the British Army, backed British involvement in a global Defense, Security and Resilience Bank, arguing it could be key to a U.K.-EU Defence and Security Pact. The government opted against joining such a scheme.   Parliamentarians keen for young people to bag more traveling rights were buoyed by …