A useful Spiked summary of Keir Starmer's remarkably slippery approach to political power. Also a reminder of how big the useful idiot vote must be. It ain't rocket science.
The final thought there is quite intriguing. Why does he veer from one position to another? Obviously, he wants to be elected. But does he just have some inchoate will to power, and tells lies in order to gain an office he will not know how to use? Or does he cynically lie, knowing that his agenda is so unpalatable that he can't be open about it?
I still think that he himself doesn't really know. He is so ill at ease, hesitant, and anxious that he seems to be reluctantly following orders. Maybe one day we'll find out whose orders.
Sam - yes he does seem to be following orders. An advocate for some social and political group he belongs to, not necessarily a formal organisation but its aims are thoroughly understood and it isn't the Labour party.
You could be right though. He grew up steeped in socialism, was named after Keir Hardie, but the working class he should be devoting his political life to has gone. Now he doesn't know what comes next, but who would?
My suspicion is that as a trained Barrister Sir Ikea is used to working to a 'brief' and is quite comfortable switching to a different 'brief' if required.
dearieme - I didn't know he'd qualified it like that, although it's a reasonable assumption I suppose. Maybe he also wanted to soften his left-wing heritage by calling it an assumption.
Penseivat - I recently acquired a Kindle copy of 1984, so I can look things up when B.B. Starmer comes to power.
9 comments:
Well here's a disquieting thought... no matter what the manifestos say there's no guarantee that the Civil Service will go along with the ideas.
The title of a piece at Spiked:
Sunak vs Starmer: battle of the beige.
DJ - I'm hoping that's the silver lining to prevent Labour being worse than the Tories. A flimsy hope but there isn't much else.
dearieme - ha ha, and Sunak still leaves early.
The final thought there is quite intriguing. Why does he veer from one position to another? Obviously, he wants to be elected. But does he just have some inchoate will to power, and tells lies in order to gain an office he will not know how to use? Or does he cynically lie, knowing that his agenda is so unpalatable that he can't be open about it?
I still think that he himself doesn't really know. He is so ill at ease, hesitant, and anxious that he seems to be reluctantly following orders. Maybe one day we'll find out whose orders.
Sam - yes he does seem to be following orders. An advocate for some social and political group he belongs to, not necessarily a formal organisation but its aims are thoroughly understood and it isn't the Labour party.
You could be right though. He grew up steeped in socialism, was named after Keir Hardie, but the working class he should be devoting his political life to has gone. Now he doesn't know what comes next, but who would?
"was named after Keir Hardie": for years he said that but eventually confessed that he didn't know; it was just an assumption.
I'm afraid I've started preparing for a Labour government by re-reading '1984'.
Penseivat
@Sam Vega
My suspicion is that as a trained Barrister Sir Ikea is used to working to a 'brief' and is quite comfortable switching to a different 'brief' if required.
dearieme - I didn't know he'd qualified it like that, although it's a reasonable assumption I suppose. Maybe he also wanted to soften his left-wing heritage by calling it an assumption.
Penseivat - I recently acquired a Kindle copy of 1984, so I can look things up when B.B. Starmer comes to power.
DJ - yes, it comes across quite strongly.
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