Starmer’s chronicles
 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/308924...-staff-labour/

Didn't take long for the rats.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

I think this is more to do with pigs and snouts in troughs , labour infighting and internal power strugles, anyhoo now she has a well paid bullshit job.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

BBC article as well.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdenx2p32jxo

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

She's done a top job. Got rid of Bozo and the Tories, mission acheived.
Well done that woman, she deserves a damehood :).

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Now has her whole head in the great big gravy boat , that is the labour looking after it's friends. Made up job , 5 years of idiots running this country in to the ground :dozey:

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Yeah coz it wasn't already run into the ground, short, convenient memories some people

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Well apart from stopping winter fuel payments for most pensioners; kow-towing to the Unions by caving in to their (as yet unfinished) pay demands; hiding during a global computer crisis; rearranging artwork in No 10 (to avoid it putting the shits up them); cancelling some arms contracts to Israel; making ineffectual demands of Israel which have been ignored; partying in Ibiza and New York; engaging a £68k pa photographer at public expense to boost image; upsetting their own MPs and resulting in Rosie Duffield's scathing resignation and Sue Gray's departure; tanking in the polls; kitting themselves (and spouses) out in over one hundred grand's worth of freebee clothes, specs, accessories, Swifty and footy tickets; jailing truck loads of British people but done nothing about boat loads of illegal immigrants (over 900 arrived today); releasing unmonitored criminals early; constantly delivering a message of doom and gloom depressing the population; undermining consumer and business confidence; worrying people about a painful budget that will hurt everyone (the disabled, unwell and aged included); taking a trip to Italy to ask how to deal with boat people. Pronounced that sending 'em to Albania (is not the same as sending 'em to Rwanda and) may be a goer; blaming the Tories for everything both now and forever, a tactic likely to carry through right up to and until the Tories or Reform kick them out; spending £33m in Wales on a massively unpopular 20mph speed limit scheme then passing the buck to local Councils to resolve with the admission that Labour didn't think the £33m scheme through; claiming their heating allowances courtesy of the public (and not means-tested against their salary of at least £90k + expenses) whilst old people choose to eat or heat; looking up the meaning of hypocrisy and evidently not understanding it; hurtfully referring to 'hostages' as 'sausages' in a cringingly boring conference speech; ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands emboldening challenge to other British territories such as the Falklands and Gibraltar; enjoying the use of a freebee exclusive London apartment; starmering through questioning about policy, they have to be fair, discovered a £22bn black hole quicker than many celebrated astronomers.

Government of the Country is too much for Labour; they should stick to Parish Councils. In just 3 months of tenure, the respect for the Government is in tatters and the forum seems very quiet in embarrassment :D

I honestly hope they get their act together for all our sakes.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

So many here wanted change. Short changed is what you got. Hope you're happy.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Are the 2 Deputy Chiefs of Staff and principal private secretary to the Prime Minister, new jobs?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Dont knock it, the lack of constant childish bickering has been a relief. :angel:

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Kursk raises some valid points the Labour government haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory so far

But how exactly did they hide during the crowdstrike issue ? What would you have had them do? Send MP’s out to boot machines into safe mode, delete the offending file and then restart them again ?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

No…

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Sue" give me the money" Grey has job as a link between Sir "give me the glasses" starmer and the regions. Really what a con

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Well don’t demand a salary bigger than the PM and perhaps you won’t be.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx247wkq137o

Laughable, been in 5 minutes and they’re a shambles……..makes you consider that a communist dictatorship may be a viable alternative.

---------- Post added at 21:08 ---------- Previous post was at 20:56 ----------

She didn’t do that, the Tories and the electorate did that.


The fact you cheerlead a crony civil servant, supposed to be impartial, turned out to be a Labour shill, then demanded a salary bigger than the leader of the nation………..which she got.

And she’s your poster girl?

Yes, I’m sure the common man can get behind that………

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

If they're not new jobs, why did the 3 people in those positions have to leave?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-next-election

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prin...United_Kingdom

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Hopefully this is the end of that drama now and No 10 gets a grip.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

The deputies would've left at change of government.
The Principle Private Secretary is a civil service position, so shouldn't be able to be arbitrarily sacked and the position filled by a political appointee.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

If only it was that simple.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

You asked were these new positions - they existed under previous administrations, so they are not new…

May, Johnson, Truss, & Sunak all replaced the Cabinet Office Principal Private Secretary when they took up their roles as PM, Truss & Kwarteng binned the Treasury Principal Private Secretary when he became Chancellor, Priti Patel got rid of her PPS Philip Rutnam, Gavin Williamson fired the Education PPS Jonathan Slater, Johnson fired his Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, but yeh, sure, PMs & Cabinet Ministers have never "arbitrarily sacked" their PPSs before…

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Still 3 people were sacked or moved to non-jobs. Why were those changes needed?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

:p:
I would have expected someone from Government to quickly provide information and reassurance. When there's a crisis, I expect overt leadership from a trusted source. Remember, this is a tech forum; people here are switched on to what is happening and what needs to be done next. There are many people who use the internet for all sorts of things but they are not necessarily able to cope with IT issues like the techie wizz kids. The issue was too big to leave to word of mouth imho.

Glad you liked the rest of the post though :)

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Link

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2024/10/1.gif

I don’t know - why didn’t you ask the same questions when this happened previously?

---------- Post added at 08:33 ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 ----------

So she will be joining Sunak’s ex-chief of staff, Liz Truss’s ex-deputy chief of staff, and of course, Charlotte Owen, Johnson’s SPAD…

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

indeed, but the whatabout response just shows that you can't put a fagpaper between the evil crony Tories and the fair and righteous Labour party.

and yes, I am holding Labour to higher standard (not much higher btw) as they spent 14 years criticising the Tories on their behaviour and promised to govern at a higher standard but have been found to be just as degenerate in record time.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

They are still someway off the Tory sleaze and incompetence in terms of delivery, we will need to see if they can improve the country, but it's a bad start and pretty scary/depressing if changing the government doesn't change anything.

If the entire political class cannot govern then we are all screwed.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Yes, you are right - the Labour Politicians doing things that are within the rules, and declaring those donations in the Register of Interest (and not breaking any laws) are exactly like all the crimes, sleaze, and corruption the Tories carried out over the previous 14 years - you know, watching porn in the HoC, not declaring over £110k in donations (and getting fined for it), lying about holidays in Mustique (and getting reprimanded for it by the HoC Standards Committee), lying to the HoC (and being reprimanded for it). breaching Lobbying rules and having to resign, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and cocaine abuse, groping men in a private club, hiring girl-friends as non-exec directors, trying to get your girlfriend a job as Chief of Staff in the Foreign Ofgice, PPE Medpro, Randox, Track & Trace, deliberately losing your Special Branch bodyguards to attend a party in Italy held by the son of an ex-KGB senior officer (who was later ennobled), being the first PM and Chancellor to commited a criminal act whilst in office, unlawfully prorogued Parliament, having to resign as Home Secretary over security breaches (then getting re-appointed), unlawfully approving a donor’s planning permission to save them £45 million, "IT lessons", £800k "loan", betting on General Election dates, etc., etc..

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

you make it sound like a competition and if it is they're catching up fast

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Yes, well we know all about this forum's take on Moral v Lawful.

But thanks for the list, I'll tick them off, as and when they happen.........as I'm sure they will.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

They're really not, as evidenced below

Pretty exhaustive list, just like to add charlotte owen to it and the super injunction that surrounds her, Owen Patterson for his breaking of paid advocacy rules and the government's attempts to condone and protect him, chris pincher and bozos attempts to cover that up, Greensill, blimey it just goes on and on and people are actually trying to say the parties are the same, really, not only are they not in the same league, they're not even playing the same sports

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

CSF is a tool sold only to businesses , there isn’t a version for your average home user to buy…. So completely unsure as to what your point is ?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Pretty sure all the sexual assaults, rapes, sexual harrassment, watching porn in the HoC, groping men and women against their will, getting a donor’s planning permission, "IT lessons", etc. weren’t very moral…

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

I thought this interview was very funny around 2:30 in, when the presenter is asking about the clothing deliberately being declared as office expenses. The response from the Labour MP is laughable when he responds by asking if the interviewer is suggesting the prime minister declared something as one thing when it's another. The Labour MP reminds me of how deluded and unconvincing Jonathan Ashworth always was when trying to defend the indefensible. Perhaps this MP is their Ashworth replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8dQaK-qdUo

Labour are certainly off to a damn good start if the competition is to see who can be the most morally corrupt government, if they carry on at the current rate they will surpass the Conservatives within 12 months.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

If you actually believe that i'd refresh your selective memory and have a gander at Hugh and the Daddys full but by no means exhaustive list of the impressive array and variety of Tory shenanigans.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

The tory's had 14 years to clock up their sins labour have only been in power 93 days and they're on target to break all records

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

I’m not sure what point you’re making?

Are you suggesting that because of the sins of the Tory past, Labour get a free pass at everything?

Weird position to take, but if you’re happy with it.

Like mentioned elsewhere, 93 days v 14 years. I’m sure they’re just getting started.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

As I said hopefully the fact Parliament is back, a budget is coming and they've changed the operations in No 10 can get things on track.

Most things so far are recoverable. I would like Labour to change the rules on donations in response so all MPs have much higher restrictions on what they can accept.

Other than let's get some government going. Implement policy and start sorting stuff out. The country is in a mess and if they can't sort it and have the same kind of incompetence and sleeze we've had for the last few years then I am seriously worried how we ever turn this around.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

There was a wider impact:

Some prompt Government information was appropriate in my view.

My concern is how the current Government performs.

My hope was that Labour had changed since the hypocritical days when Tony Blair, Harriet Harman and Dianne Abbot sent their kids to private schools whilst denying the same choices to the riff-raff.

Labour are in government. They have made a terrible start. The future looks bleak unless they sort themselves out.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

What information exactly ?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

No - if Labour descend to the depths of sleaze and corruption of the last 14 years of the Tories, I will be in the queue to condemn them.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

I know only too well the impact that this had…. The cause was identified and remediated by approx 05:30

The failure of businesses to deploy teams to recover (and tbh it was a very simple recovery process) is not the failure of the government

I think you tarnish some of your other points made with this piece

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Why do they have to match the Tories before you condemn them?

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

Your casuistry and sophistry do you no favours…

Descent is a journey, not an ending - for clarification, if the Labour Government appears to be on a similar path as occurred over the last fourteen years, I will be condemning them.

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

I look forward to it, they’ve got off to a great start to their journey.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Something based on the above with a smattering of leadership & reassurance for the millions who might not know what was going on?


I realise you were involved in the rectification process; perhaps this gives the issue greater prominence to you but let's not fixate: there are plenty of other Labour 'achievements' in the list. I didn't say that the failure of businesses was a failure of the Government - my view is the Government just hid away from the crisis (which resulted in huge business losses to the tune of £bns so I understand).

Re: Starmers chronicles
 

I’m nearly 50, I’ve never seen a government, fail so miserably at first hurdle. It’s really quite something. I’ve always opposed Labour as a party, but their attitude is, well, “Tories did it too (Accept lavish freebies), but we declare it”, not quite understanding the optics of the acceptance of expensive gifts, all the while removing the WFA, for pensioners.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Blow to No 10's investment summit as port giant pulls £1bn announcement over P&O row
Dubai-based company DP World decides to review its plans following criticism by members of Sir Keir Starmer's cabinet about its subsidiary P&O Ferries.


https://news.sky.com/story/blow-to-n...o-row-13231876

Starmer’s chronic
 

With apologies to the OP of this thread, it seems it hasn’t taken long for the ships to desert the rats. Also, sorry for slightly updating the thread title :D.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

The Achilles heel of every lefty activist is they don’t understand how the rules change when you cross the barricades. You can either go shouting revolution and decrying your enemies from the moral safety of the opposition benches, or you can win power, and use it wisely, getting your point across and winning people round by other means. But you can’t be both at the same time.

If Ms Haigh can’t stop herself from virtue-signalling she shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the dispatch box. And if she can’t cope with the reality that being in government means dealing with people you really, really don’t like, she shouldn’t be anywhere near government at all.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

that applies to life in general,we've all had to deal with people we don't like,we just use simple life skills to get past it ,unlike these numpties.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

They got a lot called a lot worse, rightly so, but the last government as well. Awful company.

I think they're more upset at the bill that Louise Haigh was defending and are using hurt feelings as an excuse.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Sir Keir Starmer is marking his first 100 days in office. When his press spokesperson was asked ahead of the big day if the prime minister thought it had been a successful start, he simply said: "It's up to the public to decide that."

The verdict is in, and it isn't good: Sir Keir's approval poll ratings last week fell to -33 - a drop of 44 points since his post-election high, while one poll put Labour just one point ahead of the Tories.

A poll out this weekend by YouGov finds nearly half of those who voted Labour in the last general election feel let down so far, while six in 10 disapprove of the government's record so far, against one in six who approve of the Starmer government.

https://news.sky.com/story/keir-star...-good-13232181

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Yes they are awful and I experienced powerful schadenfreude watching them get very carefully safety inspected, trapping several of their ferries in port for weeks after the sacking of UK based crews. The difference when the Tory government was giving them a good shoeing was they weren’t right on the brink of securing a massive wedge of cash from their parent company.

Politics and activism are not the same thing - something Haigh seems not to understand, and which makes her unsuited for front-bench service.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

She says that her speech was cleated by Downing Street. If so, plays into the operational competency question of the government. If not true, then I can't see Sr Keir ignoring that comment.

Otherwise, I've heard that she has gone down quite well with the sector and seems on top of her brief.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Beware of the words of politicians. They have forked tongues and can speak half-truths with a smile on their faces.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

That means an increase in taxes for me, as I pay employer and employee NI.

At least I have renewed the inside IR35 contract to a nominal 2.5 days a week term to reduce my tax burden. That's what people will do with the tax rises, if they are able to they will reduce the hours and days they work.

I'm also wondering what will happen in large overseas owned companies "for example" where the senior management dictates that the wage bill is not to be increased.

I can only see it resulting in job losses.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

So where else would you get the £22 billion from,? The NHS, increase income tax or vat, cut disability benefits? Cutting employee national insurance was a pre election desperate Tory tax bribe that we couldn't afford. Now we have to pay for their incompetence.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

I would personaly like to meet the financial genious who hid this phantom £22 billion black hole,they could hide a few quid for me.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Thing is the Tories would have faced exactly the same situation if they'd won the election. Maybe they'd have done exactly the same thing or more likely tried to destroy public services more. Splash the cash before an election with a mad NI cut, worry about it afterwards it by some miracle you're re-elected.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

If that was really the case, then Labour would've released the figures.
Still waiting for this to start.
A message from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the Civil Service

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Do you mean the figures that were in the in the HM Treasury report (Fixing the foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25) and then confirmed in the Office for Budget Review review letter, both dated 29th July 2024?

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...t-2024-25-html

https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Lett...ure-limits.pdf

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Still not a £22bn unknown "black hole". Just an explanation of KNOWN costs plus the extra wage rises. That's before you add in the possible public sector employer NI increases.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Get rid of all the so called "asylum seekers", that's £4-5 billion straight away.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

The second paragraph in the first links clarifies that - the £22 billion forecast overspend was not in the March 6th Budget figures - March the departmental budgets were forecast to be £nnn billion, the Treasury audit in July showed the forecast spend was £nnn billion + £22 billion.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Still not seeing where this £22bn of hidden spending has come from, other than the larger public sector pay increases. Everything else was known.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

it's cleary not the money Huge is posting about as that was forcast and visible

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Whatever way you look at it, any claim of a £22bn black hole came BEFORE any(including this) report.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

It literally came from the outcomes of the audit this document is reporting on, and it was announced to the House on the 29th July.

The Executive Summary

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

this article from the IFS explains it well.

https://ifs.org.uk/articles/ps22bn-b...who-dared-look

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

That’s a nice earner for someone…

£165 per night for long-term Holiday Inn Express level hotels, which normally have a rack-rate of £60-£100 per night?

https://www.thetimes.com/article/c06...681860c2a0fa80

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...8&d=1729075894

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

It doesnt get any better for labour, another of their MPs in trouble.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6244gk9d4po

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

He's screwed, that's a by-election.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Another seat for reform?

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Could well be, they're in 2nd, it's a by-election so more of a protest vote....

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

It won’t be the last sucker punch thrown by Labour.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

John Prescott got away with it, because ‘John is John’.

Well, Mike is Mike. End of!

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

John Prescott threw one punch at someone who threw an egg at him, most people thought it was fair enough.

This is a sustained assault.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

prescot reacted to an asault ,mike sucker punched a bloke in the head then beat the crap out of him when he was down [alegedly ;)]

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

What do you expect from a Labour MP? You wanted change? Well, it’s delivered with a punch!:bsmack:

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

For clarification are you suggesting we should expect this behaviour from all Labour MPs ?

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Obviously not, because the correlation of that would be that all (surviving) Conservative MPs were sex- pests and tractor-botherers…

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

So glad my tractor is safe.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

;)

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

I think Starmer may have a little problem. It is increasing at about 400 a minuet

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700143

Of course it means nothing to Starmer but it shows how much he is disliked.

The heat map is interesting as well.

https://petitionmap.unboxedconsultin...etition=700143

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

I see the right have now found the power of useless online petitions

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

even the leftys hate starmer every thing he said and promissed before the election was a lie

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

The problem is that his spin doctors will see this as a positive. He can ignore it and be seen to be ignoring the public or depending on his comments on it be seen to be weak or ignoring the public. His approval rating is lower than a snakes belly in a wagon rut :).

---------- Post added at 19:36 ---------- Previous post was at 19:32 ----------

That is a lot of far right ;)

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

my nephew a staunch labour supporter and labour activist [he tried but failed to get elected as a lab councilor] absolutly hates starmer and has some very choice words to describe him and what he has done to the british public

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Next election is 2029, everything else is irrevant. They have till then to deliver.

We gave the Tories 14 years and they didn't. Very generous of us I thought.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

do you think rachael from mortguage services can deliver anything but pain

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

When he was elected party leader Labour was in opposition to a Tory government with an 80 seat majority that nobody thought anyone could overturn within 5 years. I’m not convinced anyone thought he was more than a managerial seat-warmer when he came in; I expect there was a fair bit of relief in the party that he wasn’t Jeremy Corbyn.

In th event, Labour had to win in 2024 because the Tories had made it imperative that they lose. They were wrung out, were a laughing stock and right out of ideas. A lot of people were prepared to vote for anyone best placed to get their local Tory out. I hoped, rather than believed, that this dull, grey chameleon of a man would turn out to be worthy of the office of PM, even after his fumbling start. I still hope he’ll come good because as we all know (and as Elon and the bots of Xitter seem not to), this petition isn’t going to result in a general election under any circumstances, and this soon after an election it isn’t going to defenestrate him either. It might possibly contribute to a looming sense of crisis that will do for him before the next election comes round. But the only thing that’s actually going to force him to resign any time soon is if his name were to become personally attached to something deeply scandalous. And on that point, sooner or later we will see.

IYKYK.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

We'll see. But I don't think we can judge yet. If pain means a working NHS, decent public services, and a growing economy, then possibly.

It's some task given 14 years of trying to destroy the public sector, lining the pockets of your rich pals, and the British suicide note called Brexit. They should at least be allowed the same amount of time, not a few months.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Deliver what exactly?

Bumper pay rises for their public sector sycophants, More dead pensioners, the end of U.K. agricultural farming, job losses due to unprecedented business costs, negative growth,


Yes they’re delivering alright, and in record time.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Why does investing in the NHS increase the number of dead pensioners?

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Winter fuel payement stolen from pensioners so public sector workers can get inflation busting pay rises :shrug:

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

It may do, But I was referring to the removal of the winter fuel payment + the increase in the energy cap, which will result in thousands of pensioners being too terrified to put the heating on.

Strange, well not really, that you ignore that………

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

They shouldn't have removed the fuel payment but workers deserved to be paid. This country isn't just run for pensioners. Doctors' real wages are still lower than in 2010 relative to inflation and lower than many of their counterparts in other Western nations.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Hard to ignore something that wasn't there in the first place. ;)

The winter fuel allowance is now only being given to those pensioners who need it. The Conservatives cynically used it to buy the grey vote and would never have risked curbing it. The country's debt is 96% of GDP, the country's spend on benefits is high and the NHS is struggling so reallocating resources to where they're needed most seems logical.

Not followed the increase in the energy cap.

The changes to the winter fuel allowance were handled poorly and the government should have been honest that the tax burden would need to rise. I've always said that winning the election was a poisoned chalice and nothing I've read since then has changed my view. But I'd be the first to say Starmer's not given himself the smoothest of starts.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

Those that only get full state pension as income, get £3.05/week more than those now eligible for the basic Pension Credit. Overall, those on Pension Credit now get more with the Winter Fuel Allowance included.
It was a universal non-means tested payment, because it would be too difficult to identify those near the bottom end of income.

Re: Starmer’s chronicles
 

What does this have to do with Labour ?