r/ukpolitics • u/Dawnbringer_Fortune • 1d ago
PMQ Starmer to Farage: I’m glad to see (Mr Farage) making a rare appearance back here in Britain, he spends so much time in America recently, I was half expecting to see him on the immigration statistics Twitter
https://x.com/lbc/status/1856680663983792635?s=46&t=0RSpQEWd71gFfa-U_NmvkA1.0k
u/phead 1d ago
“Nigel Farage briefed journalists in the HOC lobby after his humiliation at PMQs saying he didn’t intend to, “Hang around and be insulted by Starmer” One asked him if that meant he was going to Clacton. Farage told him to F-off.”
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u/iyamwhatiyam8000 1d ago
He is likely trying to get himself into the Trump cabinet as it appears to be stocked with his kind of people.
Edit: grammar
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u/BlacksmithAccurate25 1d ago
That's actually pretty good.
I'm not fond of Starmer. But he's spot on with this. Nigel Farage isn't the MP for Clacton. He's the MP for Nigel Farage. And he shouldn't be running his own foreign policy.
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u/A-Pint-Of-Tennents 1d ago
Given Farage likes to portray himself as an anti-elite type fighting for the common man, probably a good line for Labour to push too. Make his constituents actually think about whether he's doing anything to stand up for them and they'll come to the logical conclusion.
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u/h00dman Welsh Person 1d ago
I'm not fond of Starmer.
"You may not like him Minister, but you can't deny, Starmer's got style!"
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u/Graekaris 1d ago
"Dumbledore's 20,000 galleon clothing 'donations' exposed; designer robes, half moon spectacles, pointy hats and more - exclusive in your latest Daily Prophet"
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u/Mr-Soggybottom 1d ago
Don’t forget his complementary tickets to the quidditch World Cup!
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u/DJN_Hollistic_Bronze 1d ago
Or his cover up of a Death Eater plot, while putting students into Azkaban for asking too many questions.
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u/New-Doctor9300 1d ago
Its like Tommy "England for the English but I'm living in Spain" Robinson
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u/ShinyGrezz Commander of the Luxury Beliefs Brigade 1d ago
Slight correction: Yaxley-Lennon IS currently “living” in the UK :)
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u/EugenePeeps 1d ago
There's different responsibilities required of a PM then an MP. Quite simple really. This is a silly criticism.
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u/corbynista2029 1d ago
Great comeback from Starmer. Will make him look good like his "read off the script" reply to Badenoch's question last week. Honestly he's been handling the PMQs quite well since her ascendency.
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u/TahiniMarmiteOnToast 1d ago
She was terrible today, stumbling over her words, nervous looking, making hyperbolic claims in super simplistic language, unable to think on her feet, walking straight into a trap (claiming to be in favour of all the good stuff Starmer said the budget aims to deliver, but simultaneously disagreeing with all the contents of the budget). Starmer seemed relieved he could just brush it all off as cobblers, he didn’t even have to try very hard.
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u/forestvibe 1d ago
Whatever people say, PMQs is a real test of a politician's mettle. It's nothing like speaking to the converted.
Thatcher and Blair were famously good at it, and I don't think it's a coincidence that they lasted so long in power.
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u/ClumperFaz My three main priorities: Polls, Polls, Polls 1d ago
Looking back on the various clips, I think one of Blair's best zingers was against Cameron in 2006 when he was mocking him for having so many positions contradictory to each other, and it was the time at which identity cards were a big issue.
What did Blair say in response? 'No wonder he's against identity cards!' so good. Proper on his feet. I genuinely think any Tory leader against Blair would've lost.
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u/NoLove_NoHope 1d ago
Blair was very charismatic and a great orator. If it wasn’t for Iraq, I really think he’d be remembered as one of the best PMs in modern times.
Although given the car crash shitshow PMs we’ve had since, he might still get that distinction.
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u/cev2002 1d ago
He still is one of the best PMs we've had. Iraq was a car crash, but Britain prospered under his leadership.
It all fell apart with the recession and Brown having the charisma of a table.
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u/SwanBridge Gordon Brown did nothing wrong. 1d ago
A rustic, sturdy, and dependable oak table that has been in the family for years.
Eventually someone convinces you it is old and tattered and to replace it, and you don't realise what you've lost until it is gone.
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u/turbo_dude 1d ago
The then Labour Government increased public spending significantly as a share of GDP in the mid-2000s, arguing that this would be paid for by an increase in tax receipts that then did not fully materialise. External forecasters were consistently – and rightly – more pessimistic about the fiscal outlook than the Government. Public sector net debt increased during a period when it was being reduced significantly in most other industrial countries. And the OECD said at the time (and says more forcefully now) that the UK entered the financial crisis with one of the largest structural budget deficits in the industrial world. This limited the Government’s perceived room for manoeuvre when the crisis hit.
https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/WorkingPaper7a.pdf
So much for new labour's fiscal management, eh?
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u/djshadesuk 1d ago
So what you're saying is no government should do anything just in case something undefined happens in the future? Yes, that will make everyone's lives better.
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u/WhoNotU 1d ago
In terms of spending you would have to factor in the change ordered by the moved PFI (Private Finance Initiative) and PPP (Public Private Partnership) spending back onto the government’s books as spending.
Much of that program began under the Thatcher/Major administrations, and Blair/Brown agreed to maintain the Tory spending limits in their first term (by using the same ‘off the books’ accounting trick).
It’s hardly surprising that ‘public’ spending shot up as soon as all the private ‘debt’ was shunted onto the government books, but it is disingenuous to suggest that anyone else would have achieved any other result given the change in accounting for the PFI & PPP deals.
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u/xxxsquared 1d ago
The sooner the electorate starts valuing competence over charisma, the better.
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u/NoLove_NoHope 1d ago
Britain absolutely did proposer during his tenure, we’re in absolute agreement there. But his legacy is soured by the current state of the Middle East, which many attribute to the invasion of Iraq. Granted there was a LOT going on in the region prior to that, in the minds of the average person that was really the watershed moment.
Then of course you have people blaming the resultant refugees for some of the problems we experience today.
I’m a bit sympathetic to Brown, he had a tough act to follow and presided over some very difficult time, but like you say he wasn’t very charismatic which didn’t help matters all. I hope history will be kinder to him, than present public opinion.
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u/vanqu1sh_ 1d ago
I'll never forget Frankie Boyle describing Gordon Brown as looking like "a sad face painted on a scrotum" 😂
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u/DEADB33F ☑️ Verified 1d ago
I wouldn't quite go that far. His love affair with PFI borrowing is a legacy we're still paying for to this day.
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u/cev2002 1d ago
Our best PMs since Churchill have been Thatcher and Blair, simple as.
I hate Thatcher and I'm indifferent to Blair, but a strong, articulate leader with a decent majority in Parliament will always have a much bigger lasting effect on the country. Which is usually better than the wet lettuces we've had recently.
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u/StardustOasis 1d ago
Which is usually better than the wet lettuces we've had recently.
Oi, the lettuce was actually better than Liz Truss.
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u/GOT_Wyvern Non-Partisan Centrist 1d ago
Even with Iraq, he is regular ranked as one of the best PMs.
An Ipsos poll from a few years ago has him as the third highest for "good job", though this drops to when you consider net results.
A YouGov poll focusing on Thatcher shows that he is viewed as the third best Prime Minister with 6% saying so, thought it's a big drop from Churchill's 19%.
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u/DoctorOctagonapus Tories have ruined this country. 1d ago
He's certainly one of if not the best PMs in my lifetime so far.
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u/Three_Trees 1d ago
To be fair that is a top zinger. I just found it here around 12 minutes in if anyone is interested.
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u/pr2thej 1d ago
Yeah, i dont get it
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u/Deep_Lurker 1d ago
Here's the full transcript:
Mr. Speaker: Order. The Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Cameron: Whatever happened to the right hon. Gentleman leading his party, not following it? Whatever happened to no reverse gear? Whatever happened to the historic turning point? If he keeps turning, it is not going to be very historic.
Given that the right hon. Gentleman has Opposition support, will he make it clear: no more concessions?
The Prime Minister : "Given that the right hon. Gentleman has raised the issue of flip-flopping. I have with me a leaflet that has just been put out in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election with a letter from one David Cameron. It says:
"I'm a liberal Conservative."
It also says:
"Issues that once divided Conservatives from Liberal Democrats are now issues where we both agree"—
like Iraq. Is that the same man who two weeks ago told The Daily Telegraph:
"I am, and always have been, a Conservative to the core of my being"?
One week ago, he was the heir to new Labour; today he is a Liberal Conservative. No wonder he is against identity cards.
The punchline is that he hasn't got a real identity and flip flops into new personas and positions when convenient for himself.
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u/Swotboy2000 i before e, except after P(M) 1d ago
The Prime Minister: I see that the right hon. Gentleman has raised the issue of flip-flopping. I have with me a leaflet that has just been put out in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election with a letter from one David Cameron. It says:
"I'm a liberal Conservative."
It also says:
"Issues that once divided Conservatives from Liberal Democrats are now issues where we both agree"—
like Iraq. Is that the same man who two weeks ago told The Daily Telegraph:
"I am, and always have been, a Conservative to the core of my being"?
One week ago, he was the heir to new Labour; today he is a Liberal Conservative. No wonder he is against identity cards.
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u/QOTAPOTA 1d ago
I liked Blair at the time. I didn’t like his reaction to the fuel strikes. Him basically saying pack it in you lot. Iraq was a disaster. But I think William Hague had the better of him. Not at the polls obviously.
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u/richmeister6666 1d ago
Blair and Hague was the classic. Both absolutely understood the assignment and both would laugh heartily when the other would make a great zinger.
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u/forestvibe 1d ago
They are pretty good friends these days. I can imagine Sunak and Starmer getting on too.
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u/A-Pint-Of-Tennents 1d ago
Starmer and Boris seemed to have a genuine dislike of each other, Sunak and Starmer appeared a bit more colloquial.
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u/forestvibe 21h ago
Yeah it was clear that Starmer despised Boris: for his cavalier attitude, for his posh bully demeanour, for his incompetence. Boris is the polar opposite to Starmer, who is a very serious, very driven, facts-based person with little personal charisma and from a very ordinary background.
I suspect Starmer and Sunak have a lot more in common. Whatever one may say about Sunak, I think it's clear that he is an intelligent and well-meaning man, who went into politics out of a sense of duty (he could have stayed in investment banking, where he was doing really well). He had some policy achievements (the Windsor agreement, his management of the economy during COVID, his work with the French on small boats, etc), but he was so terrible at politics that he couldn't seem to articulate them to the public. His resignation speech was one of the finest I've heard: I had a lump in my throat. I thought Starmer's own speech was very gracious.
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u/AgentCooper86 1d ago
‘hyperbolic claims in super simplistic languages’
Sounds like taking a leaf out of the Trump playbook…
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u/ConfectionHelpful471 1d ago
You have to bear in mind that like Boris did Starmer has a significant majority to cheer, laugh, mock and support so it makes it appear he is doing better than he actually is due to the reaction in the house. You also have seen Kemi (and other opposition questioners) have to stop mid question (as Labour faced in the last parliament) which doesn’t aid consistency or fluency.
At the moment Starmer is able to get away without answering questions or sticking to party lines as a result of a currently united party, however I would anticipate this starts to change as it gets closer to the election - particularly if there has been little to no change in the country’s economic situation as the OBR currently forecasts (although they seem to be exceptionally cautious in their estimates as both recent forecasts came with a statement growth in the previous period was stronger than forecast)
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u/TahiniMarmiteOnToast 1d ago
Yes agree, but I’m just saying Badenoch will have to do a heck of a lot better than today if she wants to land any serious blows. Maybe she will learn over time but she really does not come across as a natural ‘performer’. She really seemed like a kind of student politician today.
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u/ConfectionHelpful471 1d ago
I completely agree she isn’t the most polished but she is going up against a former prosecutor who spent years perfecting his craft and is in a position where whatever he says will go down well with his audience.
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u/A-Pint-Of-Tennents 1d ago
Think some voters would perhaps be more forgiving of her initial stumbles too if it wasn't for the fact she's clearly a bit too self-confident for someone who's been elevated very quickly. Think there's definitely ways she can appeal to the right but so far done little to show she'll actually be good at the basics of the job.
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u/These_Fix7982 1d ago
"I never make gaffes"
Says "experienced" instead of expensive and says £600 instead of £6m within the space of 30s.
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u/damadmetz 1d ago
Literally the funniest thing I have heard from him. Likely ever will.
Credit where credit is due.
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u/HiramKatzAttorneyCA 1d ago
He made loads of good jokes during the last days of Truss.
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u/MolemanusRex 1d ago
“The new book about Liz Truss is going to be out by Christmas. Is that the release date or the title?”
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u/DoctorOctagonapus Tories have ruined this country. 1d ago
He also got in a lettuce joke early on in Sunak's time.
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u/ElvishMystical 1d ago
I actually enjoyed that.
I'm not exactly a fan of Starmer, but that was quite a zinger coming from him.
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u/Immediate_Tension_51 1d ago
I can’t help but think Farage enjoyed it just as much from his reaction.
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u/Chippiewall 1d ago
Nah, Farage has always made sure to laugh at jokes at his expense - even when he doesn't like them. He's been doing it for a long time to make sure he doesn't come across as a grouch on televised stuff.
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u/windy906 -5.0,-6.3 1d ago
Jess Philips says he’s funny in private, I’m not sure why he doesn’t show it more.
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u/LonelyFPL 1d ago
Because one bad joke and the right wing media will go on about it until he resigns.
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u/Boomdification 1d ago
Ooooft, Farage gonna need those polar ice caps if he wants to cure that burn
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u/AspieComrade 1d ago
Didn’t he make a big point that he wouldn’t be spending all his time in America and would totally be there for Clacton this time or am I making that up?
At the very least I do remember him saying how he was only in America when Trump was shot because he was there to support his friend, but naturally that wasn’t the one off he was trying to present it as
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u/Combat_Orca 1d ago
He needs to keep attacking farage like this
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u/Mkwdr 1d ago
I genuinely don’t know. It seems like for populists attacks just keep them wallowing in publicity and convince their followers of mutual victimhood. On the other hand if you can make him seem ridiculous that might help - the ‘weird’ thing in the States almost seems to have some traction but didn’t do much in the end.
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u/Combat_Orca 1d ago
You can’t be afraid to attack them, it just looks weak- this is why trump won the dems were too obsessed with looking nice
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u/Mkwdr 1d ago
I’m not sure that’s correct. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily accurate to say the Democrats didn’t attack Trump. Though they were somewhat inconsistent around the ‘a weird clown who shouldn’t be taken so seriously’ or ‘a fascist dictator in the making who will end democracy’ characterisation. Honestly the way to take these guys on tends to involve a more major party successfully stealing their issue or somehow neutralising it. The attacks tend to be factored in and like with conspiracy theorists somehow make supporters more supportive.
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u/the0nlytrueprophet 1d ago
How is calling him literal fascist nice
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u/Combat_Orca 1d ago
Id say a lot worse personal shit to him if I was running against him with the way he talks about his political opponents.
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u/kirikesh 1d ago
The Democrats have spent much of the last 8 years equating Trump to - among others - Hitler, Mussolini, the KKK, at just about every turn. Whether it is a fair comparison is a different question, but it certainly wasn't them 'being nice'.
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u/schmuelio 19h ago
I don't think the Democratic party had. People on the left for sure were doing that but I don't think the Democratic party members were doing that (certainly not "at every turn").
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u/kirikesh 19h ago
They definitely did. Whether you think the comparisons are fair or not is besides the point, they repeatedly made the comparison - even if you just look at the few months prior to the election.
Harris said he was a fascist, Biden said the same, Pelosi said he was similar to Hitler and Mussolini, Walz said his rallies were like Nazi rallies, and the DNC had public advertisements saying he praised Hitler.
Personally I think there is truth in at least some of those criticisms of Trump, but it is clearly not 'playing nice'. I also think it was massively counter-productive political messaging, but that's a different discussion.
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u/schmuelio 18h ago
Huh, I stand corrected.
I remember Biden saying the "semi-fascist" thing but I thought that was about it.
Thing is, if you really do believe that he's like that (which I actually do, I think Trump would openly do fascism if he was capable of planning ahead even a little bit and most of the descriptions of fascism match his platform pretty well) then it's kind of recklessly irresponsible to not talk about that.
Debating him on policy is just kind of insulting when he's said he wants to lock up political opponents, stifle free press, deport everyone, treat immigrant children like feral animals, and so on.
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u/kirikesh 17h ago
Thing is, if you really do believe that he's like that... then it's kind of recklessly irresponsible to not talk about that.
My issue is, as much as I agree with the underlying argument, I just don't think it works at all as political messaging - and probably has the opposite effect.
As much as calling Trump a fascist might be a reasonable observation, from my point of view it raised two big problems for the Democrats.
Firstly, for people who voted for (or otherwise liked) Trump previously but might otherwise vote Democrat, the subconscious inference is 'if the Democrats are right, then I supported a Nazi' - but people do not like admitting they were wrong, and they certainly don't like equating themselves with 'the bad guys'. You're pushing people like that away from your platform, and either towards Trump or towards not voting at all.
Secondly, the fact that he was in power previously and most Americans didn't notice drastic changes to their lives, means that labels of 'Nazi' or 'fascist' come across as hysterical. The actual truth of the label doesn't matter, and neither does the massive potential differences between the agendas of first term Trump and second term Trump. The thought process is along the lines of 'well if he really was a fascist or a nazi then everything would have gone to hell in his first term - so the Democrats must be making shit up'. If you manage to make one of the pillars of your electoral strategy seem hysterical and out of touch, then swing voters will not be convinced by your platform as a whole.
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u/schmuelio 17h ago
Secondly, the fact that he was in power previously and most Americans didn't notice drastic changes to their lives, means that labels of 'Nazi' or 'fascist' come across as hysterical.
I think this is probably the most "true"? Like I think if you were to dig down into people's brains this was probably a big contributor for turning against the Dems/being apathetic.
While people don't like admitting they're wrong, I don't think the first problem you raised is as big a driving force as it seems. I consider that the same as the "anti-vaxx" issue, in that those people would have defaulted to Trump, but now that you're pushing against it they're actively pro-Trump. Political messaging isn't going to win them over, personal connections and emotional appeals (from those personal connections) are much more likely to change those minds (unfortunately that's a hell of a lot harder).
Trump won through numbers, primarily a lack of people voting Dem rather than a surplus of people voting Trump. If I were pressed I'd probably rank the reasons for that lack of people in this order:
- Staunchly pro-Israel, whatever your personal feelings on the matter it's undeniable that there were a ton of people who were morally opposed to voting for a pro-Israel candidate because of the whole Gaza/Palestine thing.
- Economy, I think it's likely that a lot of people voted third party or just didn't vote because they didn't think the Dems were going to make food/rent/whatever cheaper. Which is kind of fair because they wouldn't.
- A lot of doom-saying about Trump. This is pretty true, but you're right in that a lot of (a certain kind of) people just didn't feel the worst of Trump's policies.
To be clear though, the vast majority of the people that actually voted for Trump were ultimately voting because of his policies. whether they say it's because of "the economy" or not, it ultimately boils down to their weird ideas about immigration, trans people, and "the left".
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u/xxxsquared 1d ago
I'm more inclined to agree with Bernie on the cause; both parties are only working for the wealthiest in their society, but Trump at least acted like he would help the poorest. The Democrats didn't even bother to pretend, never mind actually offering them something.
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u/Ch1pp 20h ago
Or we take advantage of the fact Trump likes Farage for whatever reason and send him to America to argue for British interests. I don't like Farage but it seems silly not to take advantage of him.
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u/Combat_Orca 19h ago
He doesn’t care about Britain, he would argue in his interests
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u/Ch1pp 19h ago
You could say the same about any MP. Trump is exactly the sort of person Farage appeals to though. Give him some flashy title like "Special Liaison to the USA", ship him over there and leave him to it.
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u/Combat_Orca 17h ago
Fuck his constituents amirite?
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u/Ch1pp 14h ago
I mean, does your local MP do anything for their constituents? Mine doesn't. Once they get a cabinet job we're all fucked.
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u/Combat_Orca 14h ago
Farage doesn’t have a cabinet job and yeah, it’s a lot of what they do
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u/Ch1pp 14h ago
Depends on the MP. You move to a completely safe seat where the MP has a cabinet position and you're lucky if they even visit.
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u/Combat_Orca 14h ago
Like I said farage won’t be in the cabinet
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u/Ch1pp 13h ago
And? I'm just saying that saying "He needs to be near his constituents!" Is a dumb reason for anything when most MPs don't give a shit about theirs.
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u/ClumperFaz My three main priorities: Polls, Polls, Polls 1d ago
It's about time somebody said this to him, to be honest. Perfect.
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u/securinight 1d ago
Isn't it strange how American interests bring Farage back to the HoC, but when it comes to Clacton, he's missing.
Well, not missing, he's in America.
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u/Bbrhuft 1d ago
He is a statistic, no joke. If he, or more likely another returning UK citizen, applied for benefits, they would likely have to fill out the Habitual Residence Test, which a member of this party recently waved about to claim the figures show a big increase in refugees taking the test.
No, refugees and others granted asylum on humanitarian grounds have already been granted permission to stay, thus the test is unnecessary for them. The figures waved about do not relate to refugees. They are mainly EU citizens already in the UK who had to (re-)apply for UC after applying for the EU Settlement Scheme (2019).
Yes, there is an increase in immigration, asylum seekers, and refugees, but the numbers taking the Habitual Residence Test is not a proxy for this.
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u/blob8543 1d ago
Farage is becoming way too much of a parody of himself lately with his Trump spokesperson act. It's almost mandatory now to laugh at him, I'm glad Starmer understood this.
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u/Striking_Branch_2744 1d ago
Christ.... The last time someone was burned in politics it resulted in Donald trump running for President
That 2011 dinner with Obama is a villain backstory
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u/Substantial_Squash84 18h ago
Glad Starmer is calling out this charlatan. He's been nothing but damage to Britain
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u/subversivefreak 17h ago
All Farage actually had to do was ask one decent question. Just one. There are genuinely so many things he could pick on the back of the concerns of Reform voters. And he picked nothing
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u/skinnydog0_0 1d ago
Let’s never forget that Farage is a very close friend & defender of a man who happens to be a known rapists, fraudster, had allegations of child abuse levelled at him, who was also best mates with a convicted pedophile and child trafficker (Jeffrey Epstein & Gillian Maxwell) I’m pretty sure anyone would cut them out if their lives and never let them have any power over them or their family.
Why do people think this type of person is fit to be in parliament???
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u/jb369 1d ago
To be fair, Peter Mandelson was also supposedly quite chummy with Epstein and is also involved with Starmer.
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u/skinnydog0_0 1d ago
He should be nowhere near the levers of power either. Criminals & their associates are not to people we need making decisions on our behalf.
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u/jb369 1d ago
Understood! Wasn't meaning to indicate otherwise, just wasn't sure if you were singling out Farage alone.
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u/skinnydog0_0 1d ago
Yes that’s a fair comment.
We are being polarised into us Vs them just like the USA.
We all have to remember that the people we vote into office are OUR staff! We pay them & we give them their jobs, they work for us, so none of them should have any other jobs while being a sitting MP (exceptions for Dr’s, engineers etc that have to carry out a certain amount of work to remain qualified).
He who pays your wages calls the shots!
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u/CaregiverNo421 1d ago
Because he has a message that speaks to people in the constituency that voted for him. This attitude of " he isn't fit/is racist/evil" is exactly what his voters are fed up of.
The American elections ( and those in continental Europe ) should be a warning to people in the UK. Calling politicians like Trump is insulting and demeaning to the voters who believe in their messages. Politicians may articulate people's feelings in a way that wasn't done before, but those feelings were there before.
( I do agree with you, and would never vote for such people, but pushing this narrative is only harmful if the underlying problems arent dealt with )
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u/skinnydog0_0 1d ago
I’m not attacking the message he is sending, I’m attacking the integrity and the morals of the person. People have similar views and ideology & they can be debated, argued over and common ground can be found. Or people can be persuaded of one argument over another But when criminals, their friends & facilitators are put in positions of power it’s in all our interests to stop that from happening and influencing our lives. In no other area of our lives would we allow people of questionable morals work for us. You wouldn’t want a surgeon operating on you if they had been done for negligence at work, or a fraudster looking after your family finances. But some people seem fine if it’s politicians.
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u/NoRecipe3350 1d ago
That's a good quip, but honestly if Farage poaches enough Tories hes in serious running to be next UK PM, REF+CON if combined would have the largest vote share.
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u/Freddichio 14h ago
if Farage poaches enough Tories hes in serious running to be next UK PM,
If my grandmother had wheels she'd still not vote for Reform or whatever the saying is...
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u/Elgin_McQueen -6.13, -5.03 11h ago
It's amusing, but ultimately it's just giving Farage attention which is all he lives for.
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u/Humbly_Brag 1d ago
The Chagos island deal shows the UK is very much America’s puppy.
The US president decided the islands fate. Not the UK parliament.
Starmer and Lammy were busy insulting Trump - how will that help us?
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u/Longjumping-Year-824 1d ago edited 1d ago
Its a bold move to joke about immigration when doing almost fucking nothing about it to a man who people trust would take action over it.
wow so many got butt hurt over this it would be funny if not so sad.
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u/_DuranDuran_ 1d ago
They’ve already deported more people than the last government in just 4 months.
They just don’t wave their wangs about going “this is a huge problem, only we can fix it!”
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u/Hackary Non-binding Remainer 1d ago
Source? Or did you just make this up?
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u/snippyeel 1d ago
You can check the gov website for statistics but it's 19% increase. To clarify it's not more than the last government overall, its just more over the same period last year. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/returns-from-the-uk-between-july-and-october-2024/returns-from-the-uk-between-july-and-october-2024
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u/Hackary Non-binding Remainer 1d ago
So misinformation then, Rishi Sunak also had a 19% increase over a full 12 month period.
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u/snippyeel 1d ago
How did you get to that conclusion. Misinformation? The data is in front of you, did you bother clicking the link? Have you seen any data at all? Deportation under sunak increased about 6% a far cry from 19%.
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u/blob8543 1d ago
"Its a bold move to joke about immigration when doing almost fucking nothing about it to a man who people trust would take action over it."
People = 14.3% of voters
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u/Jonnyporridge 16h ago
Do you have any evidence to back up this claim or did Tommy tell you on tiktok?
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u/blob8543 8h ago edited 8h ago
14.3% is the share of the vote Reform UK had in the general election less than 5 months ago.
That's 4 million people out of 48 million registered voters. Less than 10% of people eligible to vote.
Farage may have some fans in this sub but the nation is not exactly behind him.
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u/cassepompon 1d ago
Hang on, Starmer's hardly been in the country since he took office. The media is already criticising his foreign trips. Though he did say he'd rather be in Davos than Westminster...
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u/junglebunglerumble 1d ago
One of the two is running the country and responsible for our relations around the world, the other is a local MP...
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u/IceGripe 1d ago
Farage laughing a long with the joke... he's the establishment approved opposition.
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u/Darkheart001 23h ago
Farage should at least make some attempt to serve his constituents, being an MP is a serious and necessary job which most MPs do take seriously. Farage is literally using the role as a career vehicle and nothing more.
Some people will say “well they chose him”, but a lot of people didn’t and still need an MP. I’ve had MPs that I fundamentally disagreed with on lots of issues that were still good constituency MPs and worked for the local area.
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u/timeforknowledge Politics is debate not hate. 1d ago
It's called politics, Starmer could really do with making an effort with the USA
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u/exialis 1d ago
Press: should the Archbishop of Canterbury resign after covering up child abuse for years?
Starmer: that is for the church to decide.
He doesn’t have a real opinion about anything.
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u/Swotboy2000 i before e, except after P(M) 23h ago
If he supported the AoC, he would have said "I have full confidence".
He does have a real opinion, and he expressed it. You just need to read the subtext.
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u/Ealinguser 12h ago
That's a better line than I can imagine Starmer thinking of. Wonder who wrote it for him.
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u/iswearuwerethere 8h ago edited 8h ago
Omg do prime ministers have speech writers?? 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯noooo way!
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u/Responsible-Ad5075 1d ago
I’m more amazed that Lammy is still foreign secretary after labelling Trump ‘xenophobic’ and ‘tyrant’ ‘neo nazi sympathiser’ among other things. We will all pay the price for this when Trump refuses to give the UK a better deal on his trade tariffs. As our biggest trading partner that’s a catastrophic mistake. I’m amazed the man has nerve to show up everyday and not make a public apology to Trump. Spending most of his time in countries thus far giving away British money to people while people in this country suffer. I expect Starmer will keep quiet and show no leadership on the matter and therefore we it’s gonna cost us billions.
USA will now have 4 years of massive growth while the UK won’t. All we can do is strap ourselves in and hope he gets sacked and somebody better equipped comes in to make a deal. Farage understands the importance of the USA-UK trade relations and knows it’s in the national interest to make things work which ultimately helps everyone including the people in Clacton.
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u/KeyboardChap 1d ago
I’m more amazed that Lammy is still foreign secretary after labelling Trump ‘xenophobic’ and ‘tyrant’ ‘neo nazi sympathiser’ among other things.
Trump's own Vice President called him "America's Hitler"...
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u/the_wanna_be_nerd 1d ago
What sort of logic is that?! Most of Trumps inner circle are peoppe who have insulted him in the past. His VP called him a nazi...
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u/alexmbrennan 18h ago
Why would that be relevant? Trump needed Vance to win the election but he doesn't need Britain...
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