Owen Paterson

[BillyStubbsTears]

What evidence is there of this, outside a "senior source said..." in a report that had since been removed?

[SydneyRover]

The link is back up

https://archive.md/L0s62

[BillyStubbsTears]

No, that's an archive. The original link is dead.

[wilts rover]

What evidence is there of this, outside a "senior source said..." in a report that had since been removed?

Sky News story 2017

https://news.sky.com/story/keir-starmer-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-brexit-law-firm-role-10960196

A senior aide to Corbyn at the time:

https://twitter.com/alexnunns/status/1458456612398632961

[drfchound]

Reading through those Twitter posts it appears that Starmer changed his story to try and cover his tracks.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Thanks Wilts.

What I don't get from that Twitter thread by an ex-Corbyn speechwriter is that Corbyn apparently blocked Starmer from working as an adviser to a legal firm in 2017, but in 2019/20, when Corbyn was still leader, Starmer did a small amount of work for them and declared it publicly.

I also don't get why the Left are pushing that angle with the impression that it is a similar failing as Paterson breaking Parliamentary rules and Cox jetting off to the Carribbean to advise tax haven bosses in legal action against the UK Govt. Almost as if...

[albie]

No-one is pushing the angle that it is equivalent to the Paterson and Cox disgraces.
Those two are using their status as a credit card, and are looking to trouser the profit.

Starmer has not understand the key principle of maintaining clear blue water between activities.
Different problem, but potentially a minefield.

I don't want to write it out again so see my post to Sydney, previous page.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Albie
No-one?

The very person Wilts linked to (ex-Corbyn speechwriter) has said not a word about Paterson and Cox but has written a lengthy Twitter thread about Starmer. And quoted an ex-Tory minister on the topic.

Almost as if...

[BillyStubbsTears]

And as I say, the line that Corbyn saved Starmer from himself doesn't gel with the fact that Starmer DID do a small number of hours of work for that law firm after Corbyn (apparently - we are going on anonymous quotes) laid the law down.

[albie]

That will be because he is clearly not discussing Paterson and Cox, is he?

Time for a lie down, BST.
The voices in your head are clamouring again, and you know what its like when your imaginary friend gets the upper hand.

You could end up looking like an extreme centrist trying any way to denigrate real socialists....nobody likes to see that!

[SydneyRover]

Starmer's integrity is not and should not be on the line over this, I would back his integrity against 95% of tory members, collectively.

[River Don]

Is it possible to be an extreme centrist?

By their very nature centrists are not extreme.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

[wilts rover]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

[drfchound]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

 

[drfchound]

Starmer's integrity is not and should not be on the line over this, I would back his integrity against 95% of tory members, collectively.

I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.
Whatever he had done.
Well done.

[SydneyRover]

Starmer's integrity is not and should not be on the line over this, I would back his integrity against 95% of tory members, collectively.

I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.
Whatever he had done.
Well done.

bored are we? I wouldn't expect a more childish comment

[BillyStubbsTears]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

Quoting anonymous sources.

[wilts rover]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

Quoting anonymous sources.

Well he had the opportunity to deny it

https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1458768047687282693

I will say again. I think you are fighting the wrong battle here.

[drfchound]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

Quoting anonymous sources.

Well he had the opportunity to deny it

https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1458768047687282693

I will say again. I think you are fighting the wrong battle here.

Yep, agreed.
He isn’t the only one though.

Starmer's integrity is not and should not be on the line over this, I would back his integrity against 95% of tory members, collectively.

Completely expected from both of them.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Albie.

No. Like many others on the Left, he is very determinedly NOT discussing Paterson and Cox. But he IS throwing anonymous shit at Starmer.

Almost as if...

Anonymous - on a twitter thread under his own name? None of which Starmer has denied.

You are fighting the wrong battle here. Almost as if you had an agenda...

Quoting anonymous sources.

Well he had the opportunity to deny it

https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/1458768047687282693

I will say again. I think you are fighting the wrong battle here.

He's being accused by folk with an axe to grind and (in the big scheme of things) tiny influence. Any politician who felt the need to counter every accusation on Twitter would soon be tied down by a thousand silken threads.

As I say, the bigger question for me is why these people on the Left are consciously and deliberately trying to move the focus from egregious abuses by the Tories to what is at worst an issue of opinion in Labour's own ranks. But it was ever thus. The Left always did prefer internecine fights.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Meanwhile, in the latest episode of "They are all the same, them MPs" it turns out that currently 90 Tory MPs have second jobs. Compared to 3 Lab MPs (one of whom is a standby emergency doctor).

[Bentley Bullet]

 I thought this wasn't about MPs having second jobs?

[drfchound]

I thought this wasn't about MPs having second jobs?

He probably forgot that he had written that.
However, I suppose it is something to bash the government with.
Those three Labour MPs aren’t doing anything wrong because there are only three of them.
It’s as if………

[BillyStubbsTears]

I thought this wasn't about MPs having second jobs?

It clearly is for some. as I said, for me it is a matter of scale, morality and legality.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Looks like the electorate see it as a matter of scale, morality and legality too.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1459281591738540035

[SydneyRover]

It's what happens when you step in your own shit I guess.

[tyke1962]

Looks like the electorate see it as a matter of scale, morality and legality too.

Billy speaks for the entire electorate 3 years before any GE through a Twitter random poll .

How low does the bar sit with all things Keith and Labour .

[tyke1962]

3 years to go before the next GE I'd suggest the polls are pretty meaningless myself  .

I wouldn't underestimate Bunter personally .

[BillyStubbsTears]

All true Tyke. Which is why the mantra from the Left that Labour is unelectable under Starmer is nonsense. Anything can happen in the next few years. A month ago, the Tories were 5% ahead in the average polls. Today Labour are ahead from the first time since the vaccine programme began.

And the predictions are for a sharp hit to real pay in 2022. With that and the continuing stench of corruption around Johnson's mob, it's hard to see where an immediate reversal is coming from.

If folk like you would compromise, Labour could be up by double digits this time next year. That is, if you really want to see the Tories put on the back foot. Do you? Really?