If he's fined he'll resign, he at least has some sense of honour and shame.
Of course if he is fined he should challenge it, on the basis of the current evidence it'd be quite a ridiculous fine, especially given Durham Police's previously stated policy of no retrospective enforcement which got Cummings off.
Of course if he is fined he should challenge it, on the basis of the current evidence it'd be quite a ridiculous fine, especially given Durham Police's previously stated policy of no retrospective enforcement which got Cummings off.
"Look, people really like it when you go just a bit early! You know, steely jawed, faraway look in your eyes! Before they get to the point when they sitting round in pubs and say "Oh, that fucker's got to go!", you surprise them! "Blimey, he's gone! I didn't expect that! Resigned! You don't see THAT much anymore! Old school! Respect! I rather liked the guy! He was hounded out by the fucking press!" How about that, ah? What a way to go!"
Starmer should just have his opener at PMQs be "Does the Prime Minister think I should resign if I end up getting a fine for breaching lockdown rules?"
Taking soundings. From colleagues. No mention of if he likes it or if it's just expected in the Labour Party.
Not a mental image I needed.
Also, this is bollocks as you know Tories will put on pressure behind the scenes to make sure he is fined.
It feels like a conflict of interest for a journalist who is godfather to Carrie Johnson's son to be posting negative stories about the leader of the opposition.
Yep. The Tories lost over 500 seats last week and who is on the front page of every paper and news website?
Not really. Just like the Scottish parliament was designed to prevent any party getting a majority.
These were devolutions intended to reduce tensions, not grant democracy. Everyone went into it eyes wide open.
No fan of Starmer, but this is the smart play. Maintains a consistent position and the moral high-ground in the event that he's cleared "I was prepared to resign over this, it's the right thing to do, that's why I called on the PM to resign" etc.
Fingers crossed for that FPN I suppose, not that I'm expecting it.
The amount of damage the Tory press has caused this country, especially over the last 10 years really is quite something. It's never going to end.
this is a pretty good statement. I really do think the press would think he would try and squirm his way out of it, because their responses to the news that Starmer was making a statement seem pretty desperate even for them
Great statement, answers to the questions were not so great. Not sure the answers matter too much though, and trying to equivocate around 'well Boris had denied even being aware of parties for months' probably sounds too much like trying to weasel out of it.
yeah I hate the repeated answers they do to get their desired soundbite on the news. Ironically it probably doesn't help with the perception of politicians being "all the same".
The thing is, this being front-page and headline news for weeks drives home the most wide-spread and easily-accepted message of them all:
That "Politicians are all the same so why bother?"
It won't matter whether Starmer is innocent, or that even if he isn't the actual infraction is so, so much less severe; the message has been thoroughly planted in the majority's mind that he is not different to Boris and, therefore, not worth bothering with. Apathy and distraction are one hell of a drug mix and the UK press cycle is fucking excellent at creating it.
Of course it's also very, very '''convenient''' that this all just-so-happened to happen just after the Tory party's massive local election loss; one driven in most part by people being pissed off over Boris. The headlines aren't about Boris anymore and that's exactly what they wanted.
You can take some comfort in the fact it's only going to get worse for the tories and they will still have a Johnson problem and a missed opportunity to dump him
He is walking into another barrage of attack lines.
Keir putting pressure on the police not to act. Labour PCC has it sewn up for him, walking back previous statements when it suits him.
And just play this out. Was Dominic Cummings fined for his Covid breaches? Did it stop the attacks on him? If this is some desperate ploy to try and end BeerGate then it is a really bad error.
Speaking purely politically, I never understood what the Conservative gain would be pushing the Durham beergate angle.
Being able to label Starmer with the hypociracy tag sure, that makes sense. However as soon as Starmer says he would resign if given a Fixed Penalty Notice, it just makes him look "noble" and makes Boris look even more "small". They must've thought he would have acted this way, surely?
The risk/reward didn't seem worth it to me. This looks like a pre-local election story that (although has been talked about by certain papers for ages) that became a bit of a monster that they could no longer control.
Still, a big risk for Starmer. A turning point to say the least.
Being able to label Starmer with the hypociracy tag sure, that makes sense. However as soon as Starmer says he would resign if given a Fixed Penalty Notice, it just makes him look "noble" and makes Boris look even more "small". They must've thought he would have acted this way, surely?
The risk/reward didn't seem worth it to me. This looks like a pre-local election story that (although has been talked about by certain papers for ages) that became a bit of a monster that they could no longer control.
Still, a big risk for Starmer. A turning point to say the least.
they're not smart/diligent enough to think anything through, look at the brexit deal for instance
They're going to attack anyway, Conservative talking points aren't the same thing as the truth.
What is the truth here?
The Durham PCC has already had to put out a statement distancing herself from this. There is already a smell of corruption. And this move only serves to highlight Starmer's hypocracy. According to Starmer the PM had to resign for being under investigataion but now he doesn't?
Well I was talking more of it being a mistake because of headlines and that meaning he's done for. If it was just about that then the tories wouldn't be behind in the polls, losing hundreds of councillors and on the verge of dumping their leader and PM.
The people might have decided it isn't in the same ball park as what was going on in Downing St.
Yeah, what we're in fucking mad land where people can say one thing one minute and another contradicting it a second later. They were the ones who pressured the Durham police to have the second investigation, Boris hasn't had two investigations. This is major political policing. It drives me crazy how these people keep getting away with this.
He asked Johnson to resign before Johnson was under police investigation because by then there was clear evidence that (1) Boris Johnson had broken the law and (2) Boris Johnson had misled parliament and (3) Boris Johnson had presided over the party culture in Downing Street.
Keir Starmer did not say Boris should resign because he was under investigation.
there's no real good play to this really, just less bad ones. what else could he do? just resign on that spot? ridiculous thing to do if he hasn't done it. Ignore it? Lol, good luck. there are awkward questions he needs to clarify (about the tweet suggesting Boris should resign) and that but I can't see the story being sustained on that alone if it's found that no breaches occur.
Aye, he was quite specific about Johnson having to resign because he misled parliament (as he fucking should, given the ministerial code).
The hypocrisy thing really isn't working for me, if Starmer was at a series of bacchanalian orgies then I might be more open to it. Feels more like a call for the left to play cricket by the tories and after the last 5 years in particular they can get fucked.
The problem for Starmer here is that his appeal that he is honest and has integrity by offering to resign if the police find him guilty has 2 large holes in it.
1. The Labour Party has already been caught out lying about BeerGate. They lied about who was in attendance, first Angela Rayner wasn't there then it turns out she was. They also lied about it being "spontaneous" when it was in the official diary with the plan on who was ordering the curry.
2. The police are not very trusted by the British public with less than half of the public have confidence in them to deal with crime
1. The Labour Party has already been caught out lying about BeerGate. They lied about who was in attendance, first Angela Rayner wasn't there then it turns out she was. They also lied about it being "spontaneous" when it was in the official diary with the plan on who was ordering the curry.
2. The police are not very trusted by the British public with less than half of the public have confidence in them to deal with crime
He wasn't quite specific in his tweet that is being shared about.
Overwhelming response from people I've spoken to about it in the last hour (whatsapp groups from various social classes) is that it's the decent thing to do (shows integrity).
Your mileage may of course vary.
He was extremely specific about it in parliament. I can't speak to any tweets, I don't really follow politicians on twitter.
Integrity is going to be the new "forensic" for some of my left wing comrades.
Ah well, at least we might get some entertaining tweets i suppose.