Well in the shadows

‘Writing for The Times, the Labour leader said the changes he has made to the party are "permanent, fundamental, irrevocable". He further described the party as unrecognisable from the one he took over in 2019. He wrote for the publication: "There are those who don't like that change, who still refuse to see the reality of what had gone on under the previous leadership. "To them I say in all candour: we are never going back. If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to stay."  (Daily Express, 15th Feb)

For someone like myself, with nearly 40 years membership of the Labour Party, the words of Keir Starmer, (now it seems the Dictator of Party Persecutions (DPP)) are chilling. Can anyone deny that these words suggest anything other than such an intolerance of debate that  may fit the profile of a wannabe dictator? Is Starmer now going to put down any dissent with the same dismissive attitude of a Trump or Orban? I have to say I have pondered taking up his invitation, but why should I? Should I leave because one man has developed a Napoleon complex (Starmer too is quite short)? His attempts at creating out of the Labour Party a personality cult is doomed to failure. The only question is how long will it take to fail? It’s not even as if he has an ounce of charisma that would warrant a cult, and the suspicion remains that he has no driving vision (apart from getting the keys to No.10) but flip flops around depending on who’s whispering in his ear at any one time. A vassal who is hard on the surface but empty of content. As I may have said before, he is relying on Labour Party members—and voters—to be desperate to see the back of the Tories. That I think sums up much of Labour’s popularity in the polls—it has little to do with any policies Starmer’s poodles have produced. I doubt the average voter would be able to name a single policy, still less the name of the shadow minister who produced it. The big question is: who exactly has taken over the Labour Party? I don’t think it’s sufficient merely to say ‘Blairites.’