Am I alone in finding this so tawdry?

many have no political affiliations at all eazybee

What! Don’t know what country you’re living in but it ain’t the Uk!

Rosie51

LizzieDrip

I’m not suggesting Keir Starmer didn’t take gifts. What he did is accepted practice. He did nothing wrong. BUT the media has created the narrative that he is some sort of money grabbing cheapskate!

IMO the only thing he’s done wrong is to ‘give in’ to the media harassment and declare that he won’t accept any more gifts. I wish he’d either ignored the media completely or stuck two metaphorical fingers up to them! He will NEVER please the media … so he should stop trying!

He hasn't said he won't take any more gifts, he's carefully said he won't take for clothing. He is not about to give up his football and concert freebies, and presumably other handouts. Haven't lots of us criticised the Conservatives for all the freebies they accepted, and that includes some prominent Labour people? I voted Labour in the hope that this freeloading was about to end, but no it seems it's now suddenly accepted practice.
Have you always been in favour of all politicians accepting lots of freebies?

Apart from new underpants and socks, he probably has enough new clothing to last him for his tenure as Prime Minister anyway.

I think the point is that we expected better of Labour politicians (why that should be so looking at past history I have no idea) but they seem to be lacking in integrity too.

I think the point is that we expected better of Labour politicians

Ah ha, the crux of the matter - let’s all hold Labour politicians to a higher standard than Conservatives. We expected such things of the Tories … but not of Labour. Why???

LizzieDrip

^I think the point is that we expected better of Labour politicians^

Ah ha, the crux of the matter - let’s all hold Labour politicians to a higher standard than Conservatives. We expected such things of the Tories … but not of Labour. Why???

Maybe because for the last fourteen years Labour leaders, MP’s along with their supporters have been continuously condemning the Conservatives for taking, gifts, donations etc.,

Whilst wanging on that Labour are and will be different…

Im my calculation of Jenricks gifts I deliberately didnt count the gifts for election expenses (grey area because it's a ?)

But over a £100.000 that amount in the 10 weeks since the election but haven't seen anything in the media.

Labour promised to clean up politics as in the manifesto it related to cash for contracts or cash for questions/lobbying.

But this issue has brought up gift freebies and as I say I'm against them.

Please don't concern yourself about Keir and him taking gifts,, he and his wife's wardrobes now full, his football matches sorted and fortunately he won’t be let down by his deputy as she’s filled her boots too. Have you read the expenses they have all claimed. It makes Boris and his flat decoration chicken feed, no less than that, like nothing. Don't comment until you have read the figures. These figures are bona fide not like the apparent deficit he says he inherited that cant be found. I think this needs investigation, hope media pressure press for it, the only trouble is K is in the know and a barrister. Its bad enough he seems to dislike pensioners and the young, but someone has to pay the piper.

In opposition it's a lot easier to occupy the high moral ground. Look no further than GN on the run up to the election, we were even reminded to vote, like we somehow needed to be corralled sheep like into the voting booth in case we were too feeble minded to make an informed choice. The new threads were numerous, almost on a daily basis, the dawning of the new age of political integrity we were advised in a blind faith sort of way. The grown ups would be taking over and this new administration was going to listen to the people, be honest and open.

I'll believe it when I see it!

Where are these figures available Allsorts?

It was very lively, as I recall there threads saying completely the opposite daily both discussing policies and some endless ones on personalities ....

Wouldn’t surprise me if most prominent figures get free clothes, especially from companies that want to promote their goods. I’m not condoning it but it is part of an unsavoury media campaign to vilify the PM. They’ve been desperate to find something to pin on him for years. And they’ve finally struck lucky.

LizzieDrip

Where are these figures available Allsorts?

I think they're in Allsort's head...

Good post TerriBull 👏 👏

Reverend Starmer has turned out to be just the same as some of the other MP's with their noses in the trough. Why on God's earth are we paying for the clothes of his wife?'? I see more more money has been "found" to fill the black hole requiring our WFA. If they have any humility they will admit they were wrong, have listened to the electorate and decided to shelve the removal of the heating allowance. I suspect it's too late though, the scales have fallen from our eyes, not that I ever had any!

I did carry a very tiny ( very) piece of hope re a change in government.

Its all too awful this back biting and nastiness. Pointless.
Better to try and go about life as best we can.

TerriBull I’m getting disappointed more and more by the day! I had high hopes that Starmer, tho on the boring side would be vastly different and champion the poorer in society, not just the ones in benefits and wouldn’t be accepting freebies in this way.Clothes! Specs!
Haha, yeah, the daily threads heralding a new dawn did make for a smile at the time, and I felt a cringe coming on at the ‘the grown ups are in the room now’ comments.
KS needs to consider the vibes he’s giving out, cut the gloomy messages and talk of tough times for all (except politicians) and talk up the economy instead.That and give the poorer pensioners their WFA back.

MayBee70

Wouldn’t surprise me if most prominent figures get free clothes, especially from companies that want to promote their goods. I’m not condoning it but it is part of an unsavoury media campaign to vilify the PM. They’ve been desperate to find something to pin on him for years. And they’ve finally struck lucky.

There’s always an unsavoury media campaign to vilify PMs and often Ministers too.
I don’t like Starmer, but I really did not expect him to make it so easy for a campaign to start by showing his attitude to his own wealth and neediness and that of pensioners.
To use the excuse that some pensioners do not need the winter fuel allowance because they are well off enough to manage without it and then accept thousands of pounds of clothes for himself and his wife when they are definitely well enough to manage without it is appalling.
Do you really see that as
They’ve been desperate to find something to pin on him for years. And they’ve finally struck lucky.
Especially since he said it would be wrong of Sunak to do that.
The right thing to do might be for him to pay the money for those clothes into public funds e.g. the NHS.
I wouldn’t say give them back, because the firm would either refuse to take them or sell them without mentioning they were Starmer family castoffs.

I'd much rather be discussing policies. Like - which was for ward for NHS? How can we better trade with Europe? What about foreign policy? do we agree with certain public health measures being discussed? And many others

But a series of O/P's like this one do lead in the direction you allude to (guilty as charged).

LizzieDrip

^I think the point is that we expected better of Labour politicians^

Ah ha, the crux of the matter - let’s all hold Labour politicians to a higher standard than Conservatives. We expected such things of the Tories … but not of Labour. Why???

Well, because they've spent 14 years criticising the Tories and snouts in the trough.

How naïve of us - we should have remembered the Blair years and known better!

Tony Blair was elected as PM on a wave of euphoria and the promise of change for the better. Keith Starmer was elected to get rid of the Conservatives. I am sick of years of behaviour by politicians that at best is questionable and at worse illegal. The PM must be aware that unlike Johnson, he will be cut no slack because we have had enough. Everything he does is under the microscope just now and until he can prove that he is not carrying forward the same old level of corruption, he will need to put up with it.

(was relying to eggplant)

TerriBull

In opposition it's a lot easier to occupy the high moral ground. Look no further than GN on the run up to the election, we were even reminded to vote, like we somehow needed to be corralled sheep like into the voting booth in case we were too feeble minded to make an informed choice. The new threads were numerous, almost on a daily basis, the dawning of the new age of political integrity we were advised in a blind faith sort of way. The grown ups would be taking over and this new administration was going to listen to the people, be honest and open.

I'll believe it when I see it!

Hollow laugh Terribull!

😏

Consigned to the annals of time are the days when MPs were in the job to better the lives of their constituents and the country as opposed to raising their profiles and fattening their bank balances.

Sadly I think this is true.

To be fair to some people, including some around me in real life, they have been saying that for about the past two decades.

Well we’ve had Mrs Thatcher, milk snatcher, now we’ve got Kier Starmer, pensioner harmer.

Mollygo

Well we’ve had Mrs Thatcher, milk snatcher, now we’ve got Kier Starmer, pensioner harmer.

And Robbin' Reeves, Princess of Thieves

Mollygo

Well we’ve had Mrs Thatcher, milk snatcher, now we’ve got Kier Starmer, pensioner harmer.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_of_prime_ministers_of_the_United_Kingdom