I never thought I would see it, even The Observer, (and therefore, presumably, the Guardian) have given up on Starmer

Oreo

He wouldn’t get bashed if he did things well.

Oh Oreo you forgot the “in my opinion”

Exactly what would you have done differently, and don’t just say everything

There are things Starmer has got very wrong, but also things he’s got right.

Just to blindly keep repeating he’s got everything wrong, is unfair Starmer bashing!

Caught you on the quick , hasn't it?

I have watched the interrogation of Oliver Robbins, Philip Barton and now Morgan McSweeney. They strike me as people of integrity, hard-working, able, competent, yet two of the three have lost their jobs and been pilloried because of the Mandelson fiasco.
The person responsible faces his own grilling, but has made it patently clear he has no intention of sacrificing his own job. His fatal attraction to Mandelson and also to Richard Hermer has damaged his Premiership and brought him and the Labour Party into disrepute.
On his head be it.

These are Acts and Policies passed in this Parliament to date:-

Are all of these wrong and mistakes

This isn’t an exhaustive list, it’s the main things:-

“ Since taking office in July 2024, the Labour government has implemented rapid changes focused on economic stability, planning reform, and worker rights, including launching Great British Energy, banning no-fault evictions, and approving record onshore wind projects. Key actions also include passing the Employment Rights Act 2025, initiating VAT on private school fees, and setting up a new Border Security Command.
Key changes implemented or initiated since the election:
Economy and Infrastructure
Planning Reform: Introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Act to speed up housing and infrastructure projects, aiming for 1.5 million new homes, including designating "grey belt" land.
GOV.UK
GOV.UK
+1
Energy: Scrapped the ban on onshore wind, approved numerous solar farms, and established GB Energy to invest in renewable projects.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
+1
Industrial Strategy: Published a Modern Industrial Strategy, established a National Wealth Fund (initially £7.3bn) to invest in green steel and gigafactories.
The Labour Party
The Labour Party
+1
Fiscal Rules: Introduced a "fiscal lock" to ensure major tax/spending changes are audited by the OBR.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
+1
Employment and Rights
Employment Rights Act 2025: Passed legislation to end exploitative zero-hour contracts, "fire and rehire" practices, and introduce "day-one" rights for sick pay and parental leave.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
whathaskeirdone.co.uk.
+1
Minimum Wage: Raised the minimum wage and changed the remit of the Low Pay Commission to consider the cost of living, while removing age-based bands.
The Labour Party
The Labour Party
+1
Workers' Rights: Strengthened unions by simplifying recognition processes and removing minimum service level rules for strikes.
Acas
Acas
Public Services and Housing
NHS: Agreed to a new contract for GPs to increase capacity, provided pay rises for junior doctors, and launched a 10-year plan focusing on technology.
Education: Began recruiting 6,500 new teachers, funded by adding 20% VAT to private school fees.
Housing: Passed the Renters' Rights Act to abolish Section 21 "no-fault" evictions.
BBC
BBC
+4
Immigration and Security
Border Security: Scrapped the Rwanda asylum scheme on day one and established a Border Security Command to tackle smuggling gangs.
Policing: Launched a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee to put more officers on high streets, with plans to make assaulting a retail worker a specific offence.
BBC
BBC
+1
Environmental Action
Water Quality: Introduced the Water (Special Measures) Act to allow regulators to block water bosses' bonuses and increase criminal investigations into sewage dumping.
The Labour Party
The Labour Party
+1
Devolution and Government
Devolution: Introduced the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill to transfer more powers to local mayors and leaders.
House of Lords: Initiated reforms to remove hereditary peers.”

eazybee

Caught you on the quick , hasn't it?

I have watched the interrogation of Oliver Robbins, Philip Barton and now Morgan McSweeney. They strike me as people of integrity, hard-working, able, competent, yet two of the three have lost their jobs and been pilloried because of the Mandelson fiasco.
The person responsible faces his own grilling, but has made it patently clear he has no intention of sacrificing his own job. His fatal attraction to Mandelson and also to Richard Hermer has damaged his Premiership and brought him and the Labour Party into disrepute.
On his head be it.

Exactly that!
And Cossy…. If you think all those policies are good then you need to listen to the many concerns about them.

eazybee

Caught you on the quick , hasn't it?

I have watched the interrogation of Oliver Robbins, Philip Barton and now Morgan McSweeney. They strike me as people of integrity, hard-working, able, competent, yet two of the three have lost their jobs and been pilloried because of the Mandelson fiasco.
The person responsible faces his own grilling, but has made it patently clear he has no intention of sacrificing his own job. His fatal attraction to Mandelson and also to Richard Hermer has damaged his Premiership and brought him and the Labour Party into disrepute.
On his head be it.

I agree actually, this entire Mandelson fiasco reflects badly on both the PM and the entire vetting system.

The salient facts though are that the entire vetting system needs reviewing and that there’s no obligation to inform the PM if the outcome.

I can see why Starmer thought Mandelson was the right person to keep Trump under control, but it was a massive error of judgement and he (Starmer) was a very bad judge of Mandelson’s character. I would point out though that 1) Those senior CS admitted they made the judgement that Mandelson wouldn’t pose a threat and 2) Has Mandelson actually been charged with any offences re his association with Epstein?

Oreo That’s why I’ve listed them, so you and others can point out to me the many flaws in all these policies?

Starmer seems to have very little good judgement on anything.

I was glad that Mr Starmer rejected Mr Trump's war mongering rally cries.
Both the leader of the Conservative party and the Reform group were all for our troops supporting Mr Trump .
Wisely, both people " read the room" and retracted their enthusiasm fairly promptly.
Is this not"flip flopping", or can this phrase be used only in reference to the Prime Minister?

My question was are all these policies wrong and mistakes I’m literally asking you for feedback?

It’s easy to rubbish everything the LP has put in place, it’s far more difficult (it seems) to exactly explain why and to say what you’d do differently.

Criticise by all means, but please explain the why and how

How much time do you think every poster has Cossy ?
I shall just say for now that business leaders warned the government about raising minimum wages, changing zero hours contracts and hiking NI for employers all at the same time.
We now see massive unemployment for young people and businesses closing at horrifying levels.

There are things Starmer has got very wrong

And that's where I came in earlier calling KS arrogant and cloth-eared. Has he once apologised for what he got very wrong? Has he once acknowledged his mistakes? I can't think of any occasions. All I see is a man showing fear, and trying to protect his own interests by backtracking and u turning.

MartavTaurus

^There are things Starmer has got very wrong^

And that's where I came in earlier calling KS arrogant and cloth-eared. Has he once apologised for what he got very wrong? Has he once acknowledged his mistakes? I can't think of any occasions. All I see is a man showing fear, and trying to protect his own interests by backtracking and u turning.

Which PMs can you name across decades all of whom have made horrendous mistakes and errors too, who have personally apologised?

Besides which, despite your assertions that Starmer has never publicly apologised?

“As of April 2026, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly apologized for several key decisions and statements made since becoming PM, most notably regarding the appointment of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador. He has also apologized for leaks regarding defence spending and expressed regret over using specific language in a past immigration speech.
BBC
BBC
+3
Key apologies since July 2024 include:
Peter Mandelson Appointment (April 2026): Starmer told the House of Commons he was "wrong" to appoint Mandelson, who had failed security vetting. He expressed regret, apologized to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for the decision, and took full responsibility.
BBC
BBC
+2
Believing "Lies" (February 2026): Starmer apologized for trusting Lord Mandelson's representations regarding his past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
YouTube
YouTube
+1
Leak Apology (Feb 2025): He apologized to Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons for information being leaked to the media regarding defence spending.
Financial Times
Financial Times
Immigration Language (June 2025): Starmer told his biographer he "deeply regretted" using the phrase "island of strangers" in an earlier speech, which he claimed he did not know echoed language used by Enoch Powell.
Financial Times
Financial Times”

He’s a human being, he gets things wrong and in some areas he’s acknowledged this publicly!

I remember Boris stood up in Parliament after the Covid May outside party and apologised for getting things wrong, and also said he took responsibility.

despite your assertions that Starmer has never publicly apologised

Please read what I wrote, Cossy, I made no assertions, or claims about KS. I asked two questions. Has he?

*despite your assertions that Starmer has never publicly apologised

Please read what I wrote, Cossy, I made no assertions, or claims about KS. I asked two questions. Has he?*

My apologies, the answer is yes, he has publicly apologised.

Cossy

*despite your assertions that Starmer has never publicly apologised

Please read what I wrote, Cossy, I made no assertions, or claims about KS. I asked two questions. Has he?*

My apologies, the answer is yes, he has publicly apologised.

😆
Apologies accepted! 💐

Oreo

How much time do you think every poster has Cossy ?
I shall just say for now that business leaders warned the government about raising minimum wages, changing zero hours contracts and hiking NI for employers all at the same time.
We now see massive unemployment for young people and businesses closing at horrifying levels.

I agree that whilst on their own, these were good things, putting them into place all at the same time, was probably foolish.

However, I’m very pleased zero hours contracts have been outlawed, more people suffered from this than gained, especially those who have regular bills and rent to pay.

In terms of NI homes, I believe this was a disaster for small businesses and not we thought out!

I’m glad minimum wage has increased, far too many working people still claim a top up from Universal credits due to low wages, so, as was the case with Tax Credits, the govt is subsidising some companies, some of which are big corporations and shockingly the starting grade of AA in Civil Service jobs are often meeting the criteria for a Universal Credit claim.

Hikes not homes!

MartavTaurus

I remember Boris stood up in Parliament after the Covid May outside party and apologised for getting things wrong, and also said he took responsibility.

I’d forgotten this, apologies again.

"MPs are voting on whether to launch a parliamentary inquiry into him — specifically, whether to refer him to the Commons Privileges Committee over allegations he may have misled Parliament about the appointment of Peter Mandelson."

I believe the story Olly Robbin's told

The investigation into Mandelson showed he was not suitable as ambassador, but the pressure from aides at No10 wanted him approved and not tell Starmer

Who were these "aides" and why did they want Mandelson approved so badly.

Cossy

MartavTaurus

I remember Boris stood up in Parliament after the Covid May outside party and apologised for getting things wrong, and also said he took responsibility.

I’d forgotten this, apologies again.

We do not want apologies. we want people to get it right in the first place.

There seems to be a general belief aat the moment that it doesn't matter how much you muck things up, as long as you make an apology afterwards, that makes it all OK. It doesn't.

We need to go back tot the days when people resigned when they mucked things up. It seemed to be a very good way of making sure that they got things right the first time.

Casdon

You aren’t a Labour Party member eazybee, so I can understand why you don’t understand.

How very condescending

No one is mentioning the Ukrainian rent boys?

It is not the Guardian it is the Observer owned now by Tortoise Media and desperate for coverage and clicks. Who’d be Starmer? Wars everywhere, no £ after years of austerity and a declining colonial power, and Trump to deal with - they hoped
Mandelson would handle him. Oh dear.

Menopauselbitch

No one is mentioning the Ukrainian rent boys?

See the other thread about media blackout.