The local elections were disastrous for Labour and stories of the impending replacement of its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, predictably again fill the media. Nevertheless, candidates for his replacement are notable by their absence. They may be wise to refrain. The examples of Gordon Brown, Theresa May and now Sir Keir himself suggest that the electorate of today is so fickle that any honeymoon period is likely to last for only a few months. Furthermore, the other candidates are less experienced than Sir Keir and tend to favour increasing taxes and regulation, and so would be likely to make Labour even more unpopular. It makes sense to me, then, for the party to leave triggering a leadership contest until a few months before the next general election.
Bernard Winchester, South Norwood
‘It is essential Starmer remains’
I believe Sir Keir Starmer is a decent, principled man and a highly respected politician on the world stage. Given the threats to Nato, of World War III and of ‘Trumpism’, it is essential he remains. Is his unpopularity because he is surrounded by incompetent and aspiring politicians who are out of their depth? Is this why we have had so many U-turns? Generally, this is especially so with ministers and secretaries of state who are ‘bright young things’ (BYTs) – they only know politics and how to ‘climb the greasy pole’. They are career politicians. They have little, if any, career experience of the ministries they are in charge of (eg Liz Kendall for science, Angela Eagle for farming, John Healey for defence or Lisa Nandy for sport). I have 30 years’ grassroots activism in The Labour Party and Co-op movement, attending every annual conference since 1997, where I first met and heard the aforesaid BYTs.
Vic Parks, Brighton
Reader says people are focusing on the wrong potential Labour leaders
It’s been pointed out a few times that the main reason Starmer is still prime minister is because there doesn’t seem to be anyone better to take over. Perhaps this is because people focus on Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner as the only candidates. Left-wingers will never accept Streeting after his vindictive attacks on trans rights and junior doctors. Like Starmer, his opinions change with the wind, as he desperately tries to tell people what he thinks they want to hear. Meanwhile, Rayner can’t run for leader until HMRC finishes its inquiry into her unpaid tax bill. We cannot have a prime minister under investigation for her tax affairs and – given that she vapes in public and once called her opponents ‘scum’ in the House of Commons – I don’t think she’s prime minister material anyway. Andy Burnham is a non-starter as he still isn’t an MP. But there are genuine potential leaders. My choice would be Lisa Nandy, as a good compromise between right and left. It’s about time Labour had a female leader. Another option, who I’m surprised no one has mentioned, would be education secretary Bridget Phillipson. The few bits of good news for this government tend to come from the Department of Education, and she managed to apply VAT to private schools without too much fuss. She still has to deal with the social media problem, mind you.
Helen Shaw, Liverpool
Incompetence or a lie?
To get in government, Sir Keir made promises that he repeatedly told voters were fully funded – then found a £20billion deficit in the country’s finances once elected. If he and his chancellor Rachel Reeves didn’t know about that, he didn’t know what funds were available, so how could his promises be fully funded? Was that evidence of incompetence, or a lie?
Julian Burrows, Kent
‘Step forward Angela Rayner’
Everybody thinks Andy Burnham might be the great hope for Labour and the working classes. I fear Burnham could be a replica of Tony Blair. What we need is a genuine working-class leader. Step forward Angela Rayner.
Alan Meadowcroft, Royton
Does polling show support for joining the EU?
In his letter regarding closer ties with Europe (MetroTalk, Fri) Lewis Gibson claims that polling shows support for rejoining the EU. Perhaps he can explain why the latest poll – the local government elections – showed a massive swing to the Reform Party, previously known as UKIP? Or was it just yet another unsubstantiated claim made by a pro-European?
Martin J Phillips, Leeds
It took Starmer ‘less than a minute’ to launch attack on Reform
In yet another of his dreary, monotonous, vacuous and ultimately meaningless speeches, it took tin-eared Starmer less than a minute yesterday to launch an attack on Reform and Nigel Farage, which the carefully chosen collection of Labour sycophants predictably responded to with cheers, whoops and applause. This abysmal, deluded and widely despised prime minister is the biggest political phoney ever and every second he remains in power will be nothing but disastrous for Britain. The sooner he goes the better.
Stefan Badham, Portsmouth
We are asked to believe £5million ‘gift’ was for Farage’s security
I remember the days when Sir Keir Starmer was vilified by the media and the public for accepting free Arsenal tickets and a few bespoke suits from a party donor. How they must laugh at his amateurish efforts now. Nigel Farage has definitely upped the stakes by accepting a £5million ‘gift’ from cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne. We are asked to believe it’s for his security yet he rarely attends his Clacton constituency citing safety concerns! Perhaps £5million isn’t enough. Yet here we are with Farage being touted as a PM-in-waiting. It looks like some of the British public are happy to be duped by this charlatan for a second time. Has anyone heard Farage talking about Brexit lately and how brilliantly that all worked out?
Angela, London
‘Possibility of a triple nationalist onslaught on the future of the UK’
As the dust settles on the local elections, the focus seems to be on Starmer’s survival and the progress of the right wing. However, the real story is the success of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, and, subsequently, the possibility of a triple nationalist onslaught on the future of the UK – with the third protagonist being Sinn Fein, presently leading the government in Northern Ireland. As an Irish republican I praise the links between all three, with messages of support being exchanged throughout the election campaign. Self-determination is the goal, free from the constraints of Westminster. In Sinn Fein’s case, it is about the peaceful reunification of Ireland, hence the impending break-up of the UK. It is a long road ahead but this election has, I believe, fired the starting pistol of a marathon that will be exciting and historic.
Steve, Harrow
Ironic voting mishap
My county council ward was a toss-up between the Tories and Reform UK at last week’s election. I’m not a Tory by any stretch but I was going to vote Conservative at this election to try to keep Reform out. Except I couldn’t, because I couldn’t find a valid form of ID. The last Conservative government put in compulsory voter ID laws allegedly to clamp down on voter fraud, even though we didn’t have a problem with voter fraud. The real reason was to clamp down on people voting against the Tories – the forms of ID they allowed are more likely to be held by older and richer people, who are more likely to vote Conservative, while poorer and more underprivileged people are more likely to not have any approved form of ID, and less likely to vote Tory. So, it was rather ironic that my lack of ID was stopping me from voting for the Tories. They ended up losing the seat to Reform – but not by much.
Rob Slater, Norfolk
