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Daily Mirror
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
KEVIN MAGUIRE: 'Labour must find engaging story for the UK - or face election wipeout'
Kevin Maguire says No. 10 needs a rethink over failure to tell an engaging story, and fast, or Keir Starmer's Government faces being dead in the water at the next election Imagine if we had a UK Government reviving an ailing NHS, raising the minimum wage well above inflation, introducing breakfast clubs and giving free school meals to 500,000 more poorer kids. One that was devising much improved new job rights, planning a huge house-building drive, bringing a fragmented rail industry back into public ownership, overseeing a green energy revolution to safeguard supplies and prices while investing heavily to guarantee steel production in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. Ministers committed to opening centres in every local authority to give all kids a better start in life and, finally, negotiate and implement concrete plans to deter and deal with small boat crossings where Rwanda failed expensively and disastrously. A Cabinet consigning dinosaur Tory hereditary peers to the dustbin of history and a Prime Minister resetting relations with the rest of Europe to boost trade and avoid long passport queues. You'd not be an excessively enthusiastic Pollyanna should you recognise that we have that UK Government but you'd also not be alone if you'd need to be Miss Marple to detect it. Because winter fuel, disability cuts and the 'Island of Strangers' rows mean that Government is a strange land to millions of voters, including those who put their X next to Labour a year ago. As MPs pack their buckets and spades this week, Downing Street must think hard about the missing vision thing over the Summer. The Government's fatal lack of a compelling, vibrant story is becoming an obsession of mine. The awful own goals, too. And the can't do rather than a can do approach to issues such as the pernicious two-child poverty cap. Labour isn't as good as it could be yet nor is it anyway as near as bad as Nigel Farage, Kemi Badenoch and the great disillusioned pretend or believe. But unless Starmer and Co start telling an engaging story, the writing will be on the wall sooner rather than later for a General Election that might be up to four years in the future. Donald Trump feels MAGA's bite Revolutions devour their children and you'd need a heart of stone not to enjoy his MAGA movement eating Donald Trump alive over the Jeffrey Epstein files. The demented US President, who once hailed the now dead paedophile a 'terrific guy' and 'a lot of fun to be with', is taking as much flak as Prince Andrew. Claiming there was nothing to see then, when abusing supporters failed to stem criticism, demanding the Justice Department release a 'client list' his puppet minister Pam Bondi claimed was on her desk before declaring it never existed won't cauterise this bleeding wound. Because conspiracy theorist Trump, a liar who questioned whether Barack Obama was born in the USA and entitled to be President, is suddenly at the heart of one of the juiciest conspiracy theories of them all. Flying to meet Starmer this week and visit his Turnberry golf course in Scotland ahead of September's state visit, Trump could always ask for a secret chat with the disgraced Duke of York to swap notes. Diane Abbott's suspension a mistake Foolishly suspending Diane Abbott and four more Labour MPs is bullying Keir Starmer putting rocket boosters under Jeremy Corbyn's proposed Left-wing rival party. The venerable first Black woman elected to the House of Commons U-turning on an apology for offending many Jewish people by downplaying anti-Semitism deserved criticism but loss of the whip? Equally backbench rebels Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff, Neil Duncan-Jordan and Rachael Maskell invited a stiff talking to from his enforcers yet surely not banishment. The battered Prime Minister whacking MPs who were on the right side of the argument over caring for the disabled won't reinforce his authority, It'll be weakened, perhaps fatally. The five plus another five on the Westminster naughty step all want to remain Labour yet Corbyn and co-conspirator Zara Sultana are eyeing possible recruits when Starmer's pulling up guy ropes down one side of what needs to be a big tent to win. 'Tycoon King' and his Highgrove row Labour's new job rights can't come quick enough for feudal lord Charlie Windsor's gardeners after an exodus from Highgrove. No wonder the peasants are revolting when a tycoon King worth an estimated £640million reportedly pays only the legal minimum wage, currently just £12.21 an hour, and is high-handed. The feather-bedded hereditary monarch's role in issuing marching orders to a probationary gardener, insisting 'don't put that man in front of me again' after the poor soul made a factual error about a flower, sounds nauseating. Issuing instructions during daily walkouts and sending memos written in thick red ink portray pompous Chas as the boss from hell. Charlie's exploited gardeners need to join a trade union and create a right royal stink. Going up He'll never have an easier mission when it was the Tories who ran a secret Afghan migration route and gagged Parliament and the media after that huge data loss on their watch but Labour John Healey was a commendably cool Defence Secretary. Going down All at sea Nigel Farage exposed Reform's muddled posturing by claiming England's sinking water firms 'need private-sector innovation' when it is commercial companies putting up bills and dumping sewage. Total renationalisation is the only answer. Speaker's corner 'We haven't forgotten you. We have failed you.' Leicester South Independent MP Shockat Adam at a meeting in Parliament summed up Britain's hand-wringing after a young Palestinian, Abubaker Abed, criticised UK arms supplies to Israel during the ongoing slaughter and war crimes in Gaza. Shame on us.
Daily Mirror
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Actually, it is the patronising, tone-deaf MPs who need reminding we are human
Hang on a minute. Five minutes ago, Chancellor Rachel Reeves was ready and willing to balance the government's books on the back of the poor and the weakest in our society. The Daily Mirror was among the platforms with a conscience highlighting the ordinary working - and in some cases middle - class people whose tears will never be seen in the public domain. They continue to include people suffering from stress, anxiety, the people whose children with ADHD can't get an education because they are wrongly characterised as trouble instead of traumatised. Who sees their tears? Who weeps for them outside the campaigners working tirelessly to keep them in the news agenda? Do the tears and the subsequent puffy eyes of the Chancellor really cancel out the concern for them? Does the justified concern we have for Rachel Reeves really outweigh the mounting worry for millions struggling to access the services they need and the others at the mercy of more welfare cuts? Yes, a nation we go weak at the knees for a tear or two. Weep in public and you instantly become a national treasure. From Paul Gascoigne at the 1990 World Cup, through Andy Murray in 2012, crying before he finally conquered Wimbledon, to Denise Welch who sobbed announcing her marriage split on Loose Women. But honestly, spare me the vomit-inducing hypocrisy from disingenuous politicians reminding us that MPs are human when they are more than willing to push through policy they know will leave our lives - and others' - in pieces. On one side of the Despatch box we have a government whose many positive things they have done since taking office a year ago have been eclipsed by what many perceive as a betrayal of the voters who installed them in office. On the Opposition benches, the Tories whose lack of humanity is extensively documented going back 14 years. And even they are now having to go some to match Reform. So actually, it is the politicians who need reminding that we are human. It is the politicians whose word salads when families are burning, starving and being brutalised to death in the Middle East, speak volumes. It is the politicians with form for trying take from the poor to give to the rich. Even at a basic level, it is hard for the government to send out the 'be kind' message when a PM trumpets the number of women in his government while his Chancellor is crying behind him. Reeves is the woman who guffawed, slapped her thigh and couldn't stop laughing behind Sir Keir Starmer when the PM, defending himself against criticism of his dog whistle, 'Island of Strangers' speech, humiliated Welsh MP Liz Saville Roberts in the House. None of that means she deserved her difficult moment on Wednesday. All of it means we all have a duty to be kind, to think of others and to mindful of when it next could be us. Kemi Badenoch is a vicious, mendacious, nasty piece of work with form for ignoring the sisterhood to kick a colleague when she is down. Four years ago she tried and failed to embarrass an outstanding young female journalist on a rival newspaper when the writer had quite correctly approached her to clarify issues over a video campaign promoting the coronavirus vaccine programme. But was the Tory leader really the aggressor in this situation? It was only after Badenoch remarked that Reeves appeared miserable that the Chancellor's tears began to flow. Handed the chance to go in again, Badenoch would only point out that Starmer hadn't backed his Chancellor, not that her quivering bottom lip was dancing all over the place and that mascara was getting ready to run. The Tory leader has form for showing herself to be devoid of empathy, sympathy and emotional intelligence. But she actually declined the chance to in harder, to avail herself of an open goal in what would easily have been even more unedifying scenes. And here's the thing. What was Reeves doing in the Chamber if she was struggling with 'a private matter' that serious? Nobody would have begrudged her the opportunity to leave to address it. The theatre of politics would have survived had she attended to the matter instead of engaging in the performative Punch and Judy which so often, actually demeans our political system. Why did none of her government colleagues on the front bench, seeing her distress, immediately move to support her? Sadly, her continued presence in the Chamber meant Badenoch had to keep her in the Tory crosshairs - as it was the Chancellor's work on the line. Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions had been the highest profile of the politicians raising the alarm. Millions of words had been written and spoken voicing fear at what had already been characterised as a betrayal of the very people that had voted for this Labour government. A week ago the Treasury had been briefing there would be no u-turn. The issue was so serious that, yes, Reeves's colleagues were openly briefing against her. Now this. There is a view that the Chancellor was feeling the emotional effects of an earlier exchange with the Speaker, caught on camera. But then, in the next breath, we are told by those who have known her since her student days that she is a tough political operator. Anyone who has operated in business - and the £3billion hit taken by the markets provided a stark reminder that this was very much business - will know that you simply cannot show what could be perceived as weakness in the field. As someone who has fought my own battles in the workplace, my mantra has always been to keep a lid on vulnerability. Breathe out in private. Many of the people who will defend your right to show it in our supposed enlightened era will be the same ones jumping onto their private WhatsApp groups to give you both barrels there. The reality too, is that whatever the truth, political images act as a brutal metaphor for the bigger political picture. Ask Ed Miliband who never recovered from his bacon sandwich face. Ask Rishi Sunak, soaked outside no.10 during his General Election announcement or another former PM, Theresa May who wept as she prepared to exit stage left.
New Statesman
22-05-2025
- Politics
- New Statesman
Letter of the week: The case for immigration
Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone Features George Eaton (Newsmaker, 16 May) exaggerates the Blair-era liberalism on immigration and is too generous to Keir Starmer. As Blair's home secretaries, David Blunkett talked of schools being 'swamped' by immigrant children, while John Reid attacked 'foreigners… stealing our benefits'. Eaton suggests that it is 'overwrought' to find echoes of Enoch Powell in Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech, as he has spoken positively about the role of migrants in our society. Yet these token words are overshadowed by his assertion the 'open borders experiment' caused 'incalculable damage'. This is unforgivable pandering to the racist narrative of the far right and tabloid press. Labour must reframe the story about immigration as making an 'incalculably' positive contribution to our society. Immigrants are essential to the NHS, social care, universities, construction, manufacturing, hospitality and sport. Labour's failure to make the case for immigration will not stop Reform – why vote for the copy over the original? – and their hostile rhetoric and punitive policies will push progressives into the arms of the Greens or the Lib Dems. Gideon Ben-Tovim OBE, Liverpool No strangers here George Eaton describes many similarities in Labour thinking at the time of Enoch Powell's 1968 speech (Newsmaker, 16 May), but omits one critical difference. Harold Wilson's Local Government Act 1966 had introduced a system of financial support for local authorities, enabling them to design and deliver special programmes to assist with integrating new immigrants to the UK. So-called Section 11 services grew in scale, scope and impact, providing many highly acclaimed programmes that aided integration and greatly improved new citizens' grasp of written and spoken English. The austerity years ushered in by David Cameron and George Osborne stripped away so much of the remaining adult education provision vital to the process of integration. Without such services, Nigel Farage can lament sitting on a train and not hearing English spoken, and Keir Starmer can express concern about an 'Island of Strangers' – but it doesn't have to be like that. Les Bright, Devon Keir Starmer's 'Island of Strangers' speech reminds me of a line attributed to the poet WB Yeats: 'There are no strangers here, only friends who haven't met yet'. Brendan O'Brien, London N21 Osborne again Thanks to Will Dunn for his exposure of how George Osborne's austerity mantra still shapes Rachel Reeves' and Labour's thinking (Cover Story, 16 May). First, they came to make it harder for children in families with more than two children, then for countless pensioners to keep warm, then for huge numbers of disabled people. No wonder non-Reform voters are fleeing Labour for the Lib Dems and the Greens. If Labour is serious about winning the next election, it must ditch Osbornomics. Colin Hines, Twickenham It is rare for there not to be an illuminating piece of information or statistic within the New Statesman. But one in Will Dunn's Cover Story screamed at you from the page: 'The specialist bank advising on the deal [to purchase the technology company Arm in 2016] made £96m in fees for a few weeks' work.' The man who waved through this deal, George Osborne, said as chancellor that we were 'all in this together'. But the numbers tell a different story and epitomise what is wrong – what is rotten – about the state of our country. Michael Haskell, Broughton The awful truth I read your editorial with despair (Leader, 16 May) that, indeed, the heinous collateral damage of the war in Gaza are the innocent men, women and children who, if they are not killed by an indiscriminate bomb, will likely die from starvation. It breaks my heart to see images of emaciated infants and children, and, as is rightly stated, this is all happening in plain sight of the world's leaders. It is correct, too, that Hamas are unlikely to be vanquished. Our government could play its part, as it has done in trying to broker peace in Ukraine. Our leaders must facilitate some sort of denouement to this utter disaster. The dreadful events of 7 October still resonate profoundly, but the end game is becoming so horrific that it is a total humanitarian tragedy. Judith A Daniels, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe A new Pope Gordon Brown's view that 'we've got to persuade people that generosity should extend further' than those close to us (The NS Interview, 16 May) echoes both Pope Francis's letter to American bishops, prompted by Trump's excesses on migrants, and Pope Leo XIV's putdown of JD Vance's misuse of ordo amoris. Francis's letter said: 'Jesus Christ, loving everyone with a universal love, educates us in the permanent recognition of the dignity of every human being, without exception.' In February, before becoming Pope, in a shared article Cardinal Prevost wrote four words: 'JD Vance is wrong.' He added: 'Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.' The new Pope and Brown might get on well. David Murray, Surrey Much as I enjoy Finn McRedmond's columns, I wonder if she was not overthinking Pope Leo's choice of attire for his first appearance on the St Peter's Square balcony (Out of the Ordinary, 16 May). After all, it had been a hard day for Robert Prevost: maybe he reached into the papal wardrobe and pulled out the first thing he could find. Perhaps he was just following Nick Cave's memorable advice about dressing for a gig: 'I'm kind of lazy and I don't have much interest in it… It's easy to put a suit on in the morning.' Swap St Peter's Square balcony for a stadium concert and there you have it. Like singer/songwriter, like Pope? David Perry, Cambridge Who do you think you are? Megan Kenyon says she dreams about the life of her 18th-century ancestor and wonders 'what of her there is in me' (Personal Story, 16 May). She could work it out. She inherited 50 per cent from each of her parents, 25 per cent from each of her grandparents, 12.5 per cent from her great-grandparents, and so on. By my calculation, she inherited just 0.78 per cent from her ancestor. Michael Bartholomew, Harrogate Write to letters@ We reserve the right to edit letters [See also: Gordon Brown: the moral economist] Related
