Keith Hunter

@DPJHodges And you really believe thats what happened? Not a plan to have Starmer distance himself from something that bombed? The fact it then further undermined Starmer just illustrates the boneheadedness of their ‘planning’.

No single journalist did more to undermine Keir Starmer than when Tom snuck into No.10 behind the back of his comms team to get Starmer to admit he hadn't read the "Island of Strangers" speech, don't believe in it, and was dumping it - then splashed it in the Guardian.

@Steven_Swinford Starmer feeling betrayed is poetic justice for all those he has betrayed directly, or indirectly through his silence when allies stitched up selection processes. I never thought he was a ‘good man’ but hoped he may be effective. I was wrong. He has nothing.

Starmer weighs up his future amid fury at 'betrayal' by his Cabinet - The Times's weekend read: * Starmer is spending weekend at Chequers. Friends say that for all the rhetoric about not walking away and public displays of defiance he is seriously considering setting out a timeline for his departure * He feels betrayed by senior figures in the Cabinet who owe their jobs to his landslide majority and his decision to appoint them to high office in the first place * The Times's disclosure that ministers had called for him to set out a timeline for his departure is a particular source of fury. 'It was unforgiveable,' one ally said * The Cabinet consensus is that Starmer has to go - it's just a question of when and how. 'The local election results show that he has lost the country and his speech proved he didn’t have the ability to turn it around,' one Cabinet minister said. 'We’re in a world where it’s either Andy or Wes now.” * Some members of the Cabinet say it will be a coronation for Burnham if he defeats Reform in Makerfield. “If Andy wins Makerfield he will be carried aloft into the Westminster tearooms on the shoulders of Labour MPs. There is simply not a world in which he doesn’t win the leadership so it must be a coronation — because the last thing we need is a damaging leadership battle.” * The briefings against Starmer are increasingly vicious. One senior Labour MP compared him to Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, and accused him of 'squatting' in Number 10. 'It's over, he's in denial' * Some think Starmer has a duty to play caretaker and unifier. “If Burnham wins he needs to preside over a unifying moment for the party and bring the two sides together. It is a lot to ask of him, but it is an essential role. He cannot leave us in such a chaotic state. If he vacates the pitch and lets them fight among themselves it will be a disaster. Someone has to act as a unifier.” * Streeting has not given up on the leadership and will join any contest * For Starmer, the next month threatens to be humiliating. Most of the Cabinet are likely to go out and campaign for Burnham, the man expected to replace him if he wins. All of which could leave him out of power after less than two years in No 10 thetimes.com/uk/politics/ar…

@CorkyOnTour @RepJackKimble Sit down in a darkened room, reflect on your posts and contemplate your life. You need to de-confuse yourself. You’ll enjoy life all the more i’m sure.

@Keithhunter50 @RepJackKimble So you think those hate preachers were coming to the UK to talk about winter fuel allowances?

I for one am getting pretty tired of Britain trampling all over the first amendment.

@CorkyOnTour @RepJackKimble Lets start with dumping winter fuel allowance because ‘we couldn’t afford it’. Then reintroducing it months later after public outcry ‘because finances have improved’ when they’d deteriorated. Do your own research on others. You’ll be better for it.

@Keithhunter50 @RepJackKimble Can you tell me the exact lie you mean?

@CorkyOnTour @RepJackKimble To start with, everything he said didn’t come across his desk that everyone else seemed to know about but no-one told him. There is plausible deniability then there is the Starmer version which insults the intelligence of everyone.

@Keithhunter50 @RepJackKimble lying about what?

@PhilMyers53 @Keir_Starmer He’s not a leader, he has no vision (no-leader can be succesful without 1) he’s duplicitous, he loses support every time he speaks. He is a personality free zone &so unable to recover. And I wanted him to suceed &struggle to see a succesor.

No one NO ONE is asking one very simple question. Why is @Keir_Starmer so unpopular? Whatever your answer is it can’t be based on his track record. YES some mistakes were made. But look at his achievements. We ALL know it’s the right wing campaign that’s been running

@larachaplin There’s such an abundance of talented people who’ve made positive change in all they’ve done that I’m stumped! Sometimes unexpected gems emerge. I hope so.

@Keithhunter50 Yvette or Andy for me. You?

Some say ‘give him/her a chance’ whether about Streeting or whoever. This is about being PM, not starting a paper round. Can we have someone who has actually achieved something, other than for themselves.

Just what on earth gives Wes Streeting the belief he is deserving, or capable, of being PM? He has done nothing in his life, other than seek his own promotion. What have we come to.

@KayBurley Fair to an extent. He was also completely ruthless/uncaring about others &prepared to lie to achieve personal ambition. No loyalty whatsoever. That must be added to the balance.

I have never been a fan of Keir Starmer as Prime Minister. Top politicians need to realise it’s not just the message, but how you sell it that cuts through to the public psyche. His policies may well have been among the best for the country and some undoubtedly were but Sir Keir never seemed able to land them with the public. Voters rarely reward policies they don’t emotionally connect with. Yesterday’s reset speech didn’t help. What exactly was he trying to tell us. Now, in what could be the death throes of his tenancy in No 10 after less than two years at the top, I do find myself feeling for him. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and reached not one but two of the highest offices in the land. So, as the wannabes circle the Cabinet table this morning, positioning for what may come next, spare a thought for a man who genuinely wanted to make a difference, but never quite mastered the art of making his case. Fair?

This, perhaps, is how Keir Starmer survives...

Zack Polanski has claimed "two-party politics is dead", while also saying "the new politics is the Green Party versus Reform", an odd numerical mistake for someone who has 'Head of Quantum Mathematics at NASA' on their CV

Leadership is a complex concept subject to many theories. All agree however, a leader requires followers, it requires belief in the leader. If this isn’t established early it doesn’t happen. Starmer missed his chance. The UK needs a leader.

@Wills_42 @RespectIsVital @richard_boal @ZackPolanski @DailyMail @Telegraph @thetimes I actually think Farage is a deeper, cynical, even more brittle, self-serving charlatan, and some of those words can be applied to others, as you say. But that doesn’t detract from Polanski.

@Keithhunter50 @RespectIsVital @richard_boal @ZackPolanski @DailyMail @Telegraph @thetimes "shallow cynical charlatan" Among all the projection currently being thrown at him this one is up there. You have literally described pretty much everyone at the front of British politics right now, (of course it fits Farage to a 'T'), but to level that at Polanski is absurd.

This is a side profile of @ZackPolanski. Perhaps @DailyMail, @Telegraph, @thetimes can explain why they've hooked his nose like an 1930s Nazi antisemitic caricature.... Antisemitism is Antisemitism whether you like the person or not.

@GeorgeAylett He’s a bit less brittle usually.

You’re talking about Keir Starmer, right?

@PhilipProudfoot @GeorgeAylett I think the ‘deranged smears’ bit gives you away a little bit. He is getting proper scrutiny for the first time, based on his behaviour & spoken words, and is showing himself as brittle, evasive & downright dishonest.

No amount of deranged smears will ever convince me this man is anything other than genuine, kind, and ready to stand up for ordinary people.

@matthewBadass2 @0Calamity I admit I didn’t know the officers had checked his medical records before disarming him.

@Keithhunter50 @0Calamity Except, if he's being treated for schizophrenia, he's unlikely to be a so-called terrorist. And likely not a raving antisemite. Do you look under the bed before retiring at night?

I dunno. Maybe I just don't get it. But if a man is on the floor, face down, being tasered, and still has a blade in his hand, wouldn't it be the best thing to do (with your big ole steel toe-capped boots) to stomp on his hand and wrist and kick the knife out of his hand, not kick him in the head?

@Alonso_GD @ZackPolanski I agree. Bet he doesn’t though. I wonder why.

Honestly @ZackPolanski needs to start suing people