Welcome To Zelo Street!

This is a blog of liberal stance and independent mind

Tuesday 3 September 2024

Israel Arms Row - Labour Clueless

Labour, now the party of Government, has had almost eleven months to formulate a coherent response to what the IDF is doing in Gaza, and increasingly, in the occupied West Bank. Instead, Keir Starmer has come over as yet another rabbit caught in the headlights, even agreeing that imposing collective punishment on the Palestinians was acceptable.


Yesterday, after months of mass gatherings in solidarity with the Palestinians, and knowing that Israel is likely to be committing genocide as it bombs, rockets, shells and snipes its way across Gaza, Foreign Secretary David Lammy at last declared that some export licenses for arms to Israel were being suspended, as it was suspected international law had been breached.

But 30 out of 350 licenses bing suspended won’t stop the IDF routinely blowing women and children to pieces, and summarily incinerating others, although it has induced a ridiculously overdramatic response. The increasingly desperate and downmarket Telegraph howled “Israel furious as UK ‘rewards Hamas’ by halting arms sales”. This is total drivel.

The real story here is that Labour is bereft of the ability to actually take action, on whatever front. This row comes hard on the heels of the economically illiterate claim that leaving pensioners with their winter fuel payment would have induced a run on Sterling. Economics is, surprise, surprise, not the only area where Labour is proving bereft of ideas, now that it’s in Government.

How have we come to this? To no surprise at all, the signs have been there for several months, if only anyone had focused on them, rather than looking where the new, shiny, centrist, low-risk, not even slightly left, honestly, Labour power brokers want them to look. Once again, our free and fearless press has been absent elsewhere, with broadcasters faring little better.

It is the Guardian, unswerving friend of Newest New Labour, that has provided the clues as to why the Government is so utterly clueless, in two fawning articles covering two leading figures in the party. First, master organiser Morgan McSweeney, and “his long crusade to expunge Corbynism from the Labour party”. We know what he’s against. But what is he for?

Make decisions? Er ... 

Whatever. Also, “He has shown little sentiment for those candidates and activists pushed aside in his pursuit of that aim”. We won, you lefties lost, tee hee hee, aren’t we brilliant? There was little difference in the profile ofSpreadsheet Shitlord” Luke Akehurst, “wrest[ing] control of the [NEC], conference agenda and [CLPs] from the Corbynite left”. We won. Hee hee!

During the General Election campaign, we saw what that meant. The Gaza cluelessness translated into independent candidates either frightening the crap out of Labour incumbents who thought they were home and hosed, or in some cases defeating them. And a paltry 33.7% of the popular vote.

The Guardian piece on McSweeney tells us a little as to why there is this vacuum in Government policy. “Starmer was earmarked as a prospect early on. At a Labour Together dinner for journalists shortly after the 2015 election, [Steve] Reed, Lisa Nandy, McSweeney and others were holding court when it became clear that a special guest was about to be introduced: Starmer. ‘It felt like he was the heir apparent. He was their best prospect and they had chosen him rather than the other way around,’ one source said”.

There is more. “McSweeney’s critics on the left say he and Starmer essentially came to positions of power through a mission to deceive Labour members, to ape the popular parts of Corbynism with 10 pledges they never intended to enact and then to wage a factional war”. And replace them with?

The result is that vacuum, an inability to actually respond to voters’ concerns, to Supermac’s “events, dear boy, events”. When Owen Jones said “The truth is the Labour Right haven't had any coherent ideas for a very long time, and they just used Starmer as their frontman”, he was right, and had the media looked in the right place, they would have seen it all coming.

But Maggie’s painting! Oasis tickets! Strictly! We have a governing party better at playing factional games than governing. And a useless media.


Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by becoming a Patron on Patreon at

https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Starmer/Reeves Quislings are NOT "clueless", Tim. They know perfectly well what they are doing.

Which is to betray everything decent the Labour Party once stood for. They and their apologists are a disgusting gang of cowards, liars, thieves and seedy opportunists.

We know when they are lying. Their lips are moving.

Gulliver said...

It has been said of the Conservative party that the main reason they wanted office, and were so successful in achieving it, was the fear of what a Labour government might do with the power. They themselves didn’t want to do a great deal (other than the obvious) but by being in government they prevented anyone else from, let’s say, re-nationalising the privatised utilities, properly funding the NHS or, God forbid, taxing wealth.

The lesson the Labour right learned was that if they wanted the limousines, briefcases and post parliament sinecures, they would also have to signal that they would not use their time in government to meaningfully improve people’s lives or indeed do anything that might limit a foreign power from terminating the lives of others. And as our blogger states, they have been signalling their intention to do bugger all since at least 2020.

Anonymous said...

Not much more to add to that, but spot on Tim. Labours right 'are' the party, and having the last laugh on all those who argued it wasn't, is a very hollow laugh indeed.

Anonymous said...

Even Quisling "Labour" wouldn't take bribes from Yank "healthcare" hoodlums would they?

https://everydoctor.org.uk/talking-points/revealed-labour-ministers-took-donations-from-big-pharma-and-us-healthcare-lobbyists/

Anonymous said...

They most certainly would! New Labour has a long history of involvement with big pharma, with Milburn and David Milliband both fronting for it. Streeting is simply the latest in line.

I have to give Starmer credit though. It took Blair and co six months to show their true blue colours, he's done it six weeks!

Anonymous said...

Lammy long ago lost any remaining credibility he might have thought he had. A grotesque hypocritical lying goblin of the worst type. Starmer and his apologists, of course, never had any credibility or decency to begin with.