Sir Keir Starmer - Labour Party Leader

[Felicity, I guess so]

Not the same as demanding sacking and when I wrote he was widely reported as only opposition leader not signing motion

[DCI Harry Batt]

His shite in the Mirror today is all "move on and get back to supporting the government".

[Jimski]

Labour have been very weak through this whole crisis. Christ knows I wasn't a Blair fan, but remember what *even his* shadow ministers were like in opposition. Really tore into the Tories. (Remember Robin Cook on the Scott Report.)

[Snake Plissken]

But that was when we had a media that gave time to both sides. (Not equal but significant.)

The only time Labour got airtime in the last few years was when Corbin was being attacked. There seemed to be some magical belief that when he went, all those minutes would be available for Labour to talk about other things.

[hobbes]

Well done Snake. Out of the millions of "centrists" in the UK, there are a few who have a tendency to tweet stupid views. You've found one of them. Hurrah for Momentum and its tireless efforts. Clearly the nonsense of a few politically insignificant individuals conclusively discredits the entire Centrist political case, well done.

This is the game now, isn’t it? It certainly was when the centrists would find any random tweet from some random Corbyn supported on the raggedy edge of rationality and use that as a stick to beat all of us with.

[ooh aah]

Not any more Hobbes, they've moved on to being adults again.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Big test for Starmer today. First PMQs v Johnson since the Cummings fiasco that saw even the Daily Heil turn on the PM, and the roundly criticised race to ease lockdown. Does Starmer go in for the political kill, or does he play the concerned statesman? In some ways he won't please both sides either way but what tactic do you think is needed now?

[Levin]

Will it matter? The chamber will have people in it again wont it? So it will all get drowned out.

[Nefertiti2]

Big test for Starmer today. First PMQs v Johnson since the Cummings fiasco that saw even the Daily Heil turn on the PM, and the roundly criticised race to ease lockdown. Does Starmer go in for the political kill, or does he play the concerned statesman? In some ways he won't please both sides either way but what tactic do you think is needed now?

I think showing in a statesmanlike way that he is prepared to work with a lazy racist incompetent liar with a distaste for democracy and no moral compass of any kind will be the way forward in helping the British public resign themselves to their fate.

Also some forensic analysis of some minor point will win back the admiration of the pundit classes

[Sporting]

Starmer was pretty critical of the govt yesterday, was he not?

[Benjm]

Will it matter? The chamber will have people in it again wont it? So it will all get drowned out.

Have the restrictions upon numbers in the chamber been lifted? I've read a couple of things that suggest not, in which case Johnson won't have his sonic comfort blanket restored. Even the Tories seem to realise how off putting their usual hooting and jeering is once the room is lightly populated enough for them to be seen as individuals rather than one mass.

[Nefertiti2]

As Rees Mogg further corrupts parliamentary democracy by making voting impossible and suggesting it happens to often Starmer warns Johnson he is likely to be sent to his room

https://twitter.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1268112719141572609?s=20

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Well the last guy seemed to confuse Prime Minister's questions with Gardener's question time, and had the mental agility of a Dolmen. He has a low bar to pass if he's going to be an improvement.

[E10 Rifle]

PMQs isn't very important or influential. If it was, the Tories wouldn't win elections.

[pebblethefish]

PMQs should be a doddle for the opposition. It's always easier to criticise than it is to govern. Unfortunately the Tories seem to be the only ones who have realised that only thirty seconds of it, if that, will make it into the mainstream media the next day, and they come a lot better prepared with their thirty second soundbites. I don't know if "forensic" is going to work, but it's surely got to be better than "clueless"?

[Snake Plissken]

Weak as it as, there is little that Starmer can actually do. He's in Opposition and the media is focused on the Tory soap opera. Johnson only has to be coherent for five seconds in order to create the clip for the nightly news. Starmer doesn't appear on the telly much and of his Shadow Cabinet and MPs, the only ones who get on the telly are the ones who completely coincidentally agree with the Government position.

Of course, all these things faced Corbyn yet there was the persistent belief that he could magically Stop Brexit if he only wanted to.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

PMQs should be a doddle for the opposition. It's always easier to criticise than it is to govern. Unfortunately the Tories seem to be the only ones who have realised that only thirty seconds of it, if that, will make it into the mainstream media the next day, and they come a lot better prepared with their thirty second soundbites. I don't know if "forensic" is going to work, but it's surely got to be better than "clueless"?

The consensus of close watchers of today's PMQs is that the PM was terrible and is clearly rattled by the format. However at the same time you are right in that all that will feature in the news is the PM shouting and jabbing his finger at Starmer and it will play to his audience as putting Starmer in his place.

Clear tactics from Johnson to equate criticism of his own handling of the crisis with criticism of "this country's efforts". Also thrown in a lie "I rang him up and told him..." which although was quickly and easily disproved (said conversation was a conference call with all opposition parties) will still make it onto the news and carry to his audience, as will the baseless statistic "the overwhelming majority of the British public". So he was terrible, and at the same time effective for what he's trying to do.

[ursus arctos]

According to the Guardian live blog, physical attendance in the chamber is still limited to 50

Does anyone know how those seats are allocated? Pure proportionality would exclude some parties with seats.

[Eggchaser]

I can hazard a guess.

[Nefertiti2]

PMQs should be a doddle for the opposition. It's always easier to criticise than it is to govern. Unfortunately the Tories seem to be the only ones who have realised that only thirty seconds of it, if that, will make it into the mainstream media the next day, and they come a lot better prepared with their thirty second soundbites. I don't know if "forensic" is going to work, but it's surely got to be better than "clueless"?

Corbyn often had excellent soundbites- they only appeared on Twitter but that wasn't entirely his fault

[ooh aah]

Yeah he was actually a big improvement on Milliband from what I saw. But as with Milliband, and no doubt Starmer will find this too, PM's haven't received any significant criticism from the media for their complete refusal to ever answer questions, since May 2010.

[Nefertiti2]

Black Lives Matter... when you're lighting your town hall purple

https://twitter.com/Tom_Gann/status/1268492367469969408?s=20

[jeanmid]

Except Gardiner's actions were irresponsible and they did put people's health at risk.

[Snake Plissken]

Normally I would agree, but with several thousand people taking to the streets yesterday, today, tomorrow and for a while, it is another spectacular failure in reading the room. Lockdown essentially ended in the eyes of (too many) people last weekend. If no-one is making the case for stopping people getting pissed at the beach, then they can't make the case for taking to the streets to protest against injustice.

[Diable Rouge]

Survation, Opinium and Deltapoll polls tonight all show Labour on 39-40% and closing to 2-3% off the Tories.