A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Taken As Red, by Guardian and ITV political reporter Anushka Asthana. As my readers will know, this is the story of the ‘change’ in the Labour party in the first five years of Starmer’s leadership. I hadn’t got more than a hundred pages in, but already the narrative was clear that the real leader during this time was actually Morgan MacSweeney. At which point, I remember, my phone buzzed to alert me of a news notification …
The news was that Sue Gray had resigned and that Starmer’s new Chief of Staff was his old Chief of Staff.
In other words, not the one who knew how to govern, but the one who knew how to manipulate the vote.
I am not a fan, as this post makes clear, but one has to hand it to him. Had he achieved a political swing equivalent to Blair's in 1997, he would have handed Starmer a parliamentary majority of just two MPs. What McSweeney’s strategy actually achieved was a major of 172.
This had two important consequences which are becoming frighteningly apparent now.
The first is that Starmer thought he was omnipotent and began to act as if he were God. Not just a narcissistic World King, you understand, but God itself - and thus entitled to all kinds of sacrifices (the Labour Left) and gifts (clothing, spectacles, tickets to racing, gigs, football etc etc).
The second is scarier.
He has began to act as if he had an authentic popular majority and a mandate which reflects a 50% plus share of the vote. Which he fell short of, falling short even of his derided (by him) predecessor.
So he and his acolyte, Ms Reeves, decided to cancel the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance - a move which brought my previous ideological objections into the personal realm. (I am a pensioner, and I need that money.)
There were other moves as well which can only be implemented by someone who, frankly, doesn’t give a flying fuck about the “working people” or children in poverty which he goes on about.
But the cancellation of the winter fuel allowance was the exemplar, the iconic moment.
This was the sign the ruling elite were waiting for: it was a marketing mission statement. Labour had no plans for socialism or even a caring liberal approach.
It was going to kow-tow to those who had funded the Tories but now funded Labour - that’s right, the off-shore hedge funds with interests in arms sales and “defence contracts” who snook a few million into Starmer’s coffers just before the election when it would not be made public until it was too late.
None of this, of course, is what one might expect of the Labour party for which I worked and argued and supported for many years.
It is, however, what one might expect of an authoritarian liar like Starmer, who needs a Rasputin to confirm the correctness of his actions.
It is, however, what one might expect from a party which is being run by a Svengali figure who makes Dominic Cummings look like a benign godfather.
Today from the everysmith vaults: My favourite local band, The Swaps, have just released an excellent recording of an excellent show at the Upton Blues Festival. It’s on Bandcamp and the trio are on top form with some great songs, especially from Beth!
The news was that Sue Gray had resigned and that Starmer’s new Chief of Staff was his old Chief of Staff.
In other words, not the one who knew how to govern, but the one who knew how to manipulate the vote.
I am not a fan, as this post makes clear, but one has to hand it to him. Had he achieved a political swing equivalent to Blair's in 1997, he would have handed Starmer a parliamentary majority of just two MPs. What McSweeney’s strategy actually achieved was a major of 172.
This had two important consequences which are becoming frighteningly apparent now.
The first is that Starmer thought he was omnipotent and began to act as if he were God. Not just a narcissistic World King, you understand, but God itself - and thus entitled to all kinds of sacrifices (the Labour Left) and gifts (clothing, spectacles, tickets to racing, gigs, football etc etc).
The second is scarier.
He has began to act as if he had an authentic popular majority and a mandate which reflects a 50% plus share of the vote. Which he fell short of, falling short even of his derided (by him) predecessor.
So he and his acolyte, Ms Reeves, decided to cancel the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance - a move which brought my previous ideological objections into the personal realm. (I am a pensioner, and I need that money.)
There were other moves as well which can only be implemented by someone who, frankly, doesn’t give a flying fuck about the “working people” or children in poverty which he goes on about.
But the cancellation of the winter fuel allowance was the exemplar, the iconic moment.
This was the sign the ruling elite were waiting for: it was a marketing mission statement. Labour had no plans for socialism or even a caring liberal approach.
It was going to kow-tow to those who had funded the Tories but now funded Labour - that’s right, the off-shore hedge funds with interests in arms sales and “defence contracts” who snook a few million into Starmer’s coffers just before the election when it would not be made public until it was too late.
None of this, of course, is what one might expect of the Labour party for which I worked and argued and supported for many years.
It is, however, what one might expect of an authoritarian liar like Starmer, who needs a Rasputin to confirm the correctness of his actions.
It is, however, what one might expect from a party which is being run by a Svengali figure who makes Dominic Cummings look like a benign godfather.
Today from the everysmith vaults: My favourite local band, The Swaps, have just released an excellent recording of an excellent show at the Upton Blues Festival. It’s on Bandcamp and the trio are on top form with some great songs, especially from Beth!
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