General British politics discussion thread

Seth Brundle · 07-02-2026 12:32AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124213739#Comment_124213739

...and still Andy hasn't started having to sweat

PommieBast · 07-02-2026 12:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124212998#Comment_124212998

The Starmer government being fiscally conservative? Nope.

Larbre34 · 07-02-2026 12:41AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124213770#Comment_124213770

Why would he?

The King's brother would never be tried. Even though he's been civilianised. Not in a million years.

Ozymandius2011 · 08-02-2026 06:03AM

Edit: Reports that "Labour Together", which was linked to Morgan McSweeney, investigated journalists including those who reported for The Guardian, Declassified UK and the Sunday Times, and to identify their sources.

Echoes of Watergate?

An investigation by Democracy for Sale has found that the rightwing think tank Labour Together, directed by McSweeney from 2017 and from 2022 by Josh Simons, hired APCO Worldwide to investigate journalists from outlets including the Guardian, Declassified UK and the Sunday Times, and to identify their sources.

http://youtube.com/post/Ugkx16LbgkQ02YlcHH4eKJQjHU-Vn-oMyCOy?si=WaIeojR-f6hrNnr0

Richard Burgon MP, from the Left of the Labour party says that one of the main reasons Peter Mandelson was "let off the hook" for this relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and was made UK Ambassador to the US was his role in the factional politics in the Labour party trying to bring down Jeremy Corbyn when he was leader, and also because of Mandelsons relationship with the "super rich".

https://youtube.com/shorts/L1kE4-FmQ84?si=ZL98RREFWiK10MVF

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 02:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124216554#Comment_124216554

Definitely not at the Watergate level.

But everything that has come out about McSweeney indicates a patron of the dark arts.

Particularly with how he was involved in acting against Jeremy Corbyn while leading the think tank you reference above ironically called "Labour Together".

Well, its looking now like him and Keir Starmer will become best known for destroying the biggest Labour majority at any election within 2 years of gaining power.

Strazdas · 08-02-2026 02:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217190#Comment_124217190

Seems evident there are two different versions of the Labour Party : the Starmer-McSweeney-Mandelson one appears to be by far the more the dodgy version…..right wing, pro-Israel, in bed with billionaires etc. The 'Corbynista' wing was probably the more benign one all along, despite being demonised by the Labour Right and the British media as 'radical anti-Semitic extremists' and so on.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 02:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217225#Comment_124217225

Would be interesting to know just what McSweeney's experience in Israel was given he came back, joined Labour and years later actively worked to undermine one of the strongest Pro-Palestinian voices in Parliament.

I'm not suggesting he was a plant, or that his actions against Corbyn were what was in mind when he joined Labour or anything like that, but there are rumours that he became involved with Labour at the behest of someone, or some organisation.

https://electronicintifada.net/content/morgan-mcsweeney-man-running-britain-and-his-ties-israel/51215

According to The Jerusalem Post, in that kibbutz and the surrounding Jezreel Valley, McSweeney would have become “closely acquainted with the Hashomer Hatzair,” a Zionist settler organization founded in Austria-Hungary in 1913.
………..
While researching this article, a former Labour volunteer, “Simon,” contacted me and spoke on condition of anonymity. Simon claimed that McSweeney was deliberately inserted into the party and later became Keir Starmer’s “handler,” presenting compromising material to keep him “in line.”

Whether this is true or not, the fact that he undermined Corbyn and actively promoted and then tried to defend Mandelson is why Starmer is likely going to be out of a job at some point this year.

Water John · 08-02-2026 03:35PM

Morgan McSweeney gone. Was inevitable, might buy Starmer some time, until after the by election.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 03:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217442#Comment_124217442

"I leave with pride with all we have achieved"

A final F you to the Left wing of the party.

Tony EH · 08-02-2026 03:49PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217473#Comment_124217473

The "left wing" of the Labour Party.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 03:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217482#Comment_124217482

The Overton window has been pulled dramatically to the right these last ten years.

That's irrefutable. Trump, Brexit, Putin, Israel (and the various supporting artists of these individuals and ideals) have all to varying degrees been responsible for this.

And the Labour party hasn't escaped this. Many (most) went along to get along but fair play to those within the Labour party who saw what was happening and refused to go be a part of it.

Some people have left the Conservative party to jump ahead of the curve in joining Reform, the likes of Zarah Sultana and a few more are some of the only ones who stood by their morals and refused to go along with what was happening within Labour.

And yet some people think she is responsible for harming the Labour party.

Strazdas · 08-02-2026 04:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217248#Comment_124217248

It's becoming obvious that Corbyn was stitched up by the Labour right and the right wing press. Even if you view him as a cranky lefty crusty, he was harmless enough - yet was absolutely demonised by them as a racist and a hate filled extremist, merely for criticising Israel's activities in Palestine.

The McSweeney wing of the party are far more shady, with their links to Israel and Zionism. Hardly seems a coincidence that McSweeney lived in Israel and with now rumoured links to Israeli settlers. Worth remembering too that Starmer was never even a member of the Labour Party until a decade ago, when he was already in his 50s.

PommieBast · 08-02-2026 04:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217190#Comment_124217190

Think it more a case of if they were not already doomed they pretty much are now. Looks like a competition between Starmer and Reeves on who'se done the most damage.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 04:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217542#Comment_124217542

Wes Streeting might be competent enough to come in and blame everything that has happened since they gained power on McSweeney and now Mandelson for being the ultimate reason Starmer had to go (if he goes now).

As has been said here, Reform have a ceiling, a lot of the country do not like them and they have no track record to hang their hat on. And what they've attracted from Conservatives are people who many would have seen as in line with the Reform ideology anyway.

Do Labour keep Starmer until the local elections, take the hiding, and then get rid of him and bring Streeting or someone else in and basically hope it can only get better. Or do they make the change now and hope it's enough to save them somewhat in the local elections. I think they are inline for a hiding in what will mostly be a protest vote in the local elections, it remains to be seen who picks up the votes though.

PommieBast · 08-02-2026 04:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217583#Comment_124217583

Never mind the local elections another incoming grenade will be publication of material related to Mandleson's vetting. Streeting would be better off biding his time and let Starmer take the hits.

A Dub in Glasgo · 08-02-2026 04:38PM

Starmer and his cabinet are not shielded from the fallout of Mandelson just because his chief aide has quit…

Water John · 08-02-2026 04:40PM

If there is a police inquiry into Mandelson, which is most likely, there will be nothing released in the short term.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 04:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217645#Comment_124217645

Mandelson's vetting was something McSweeney alluded to in his resignation announcement, saying the vetting process needed to be overhauled entirely.

Think that was a pointed comment, suggesting either it didn't become clear the extent of the relationship between Mandelson and Epstein, or that it was clear but the wrong people knew about it or didn't act on the information.

Ideally, an outcome of this should be an insistence for the disclosure between all UK politicians and those that they choose to spend time with. Nathan Gill and Russia, Farage and the rumours around him, Johnson and his visit to Italy without a security detail to meet with a KGB operative, Priti Patel meeting Israeli officials etc etc. Not mention the influence Israel has on the UK parliament through it's "Friends of " shenanigans.

But because so many people from all sides have so much to hide, it is unlikely that full disclosure will happen. Unless the dam fully breaks such as with Epstein and they can't keep a lid on everything. Interesting times. And depressing mind, the UK and the wider world needs action, not to be swimming in the sewage infested waters that all of this is.

(Actually sewage infested waters is an apt analogy for this time in UK politics given the action of the private water groups with respect to water quality and how successive governments have emboldened them rather than hold them to account. A sh*tshow all round, you might say.)

Podge_irl · 08-02-2026 04:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217225#Comment_124217225

There is absolutely nothing benign about Corbyn. The misdeeds of one do not erase the misdeeds of the other.

I would have thought the fiasco about Your Party was evidence enough of both his poor politics and his general incompetence when it comes to leading.

A Dub in Glasgo · 08-02-2026 05:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217693#Comment_124217693

It is not relevant whether Corbyn was good at leading a party or not, what is relevant is the lies and smear campaign carried out by some in the Labour Party (and the media) to sideline him. That is the politics of the gutter and it is no wonder the state of politics in Britain in if that behaviour is deemed acceptable.

deirdremf · 08-02-2026 05:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217442#Comment_124217442

The writing is on the wall for Starmer, but the Labour Friends of Israel that actually control the party will go to great lengths to keep him in place until a "suitable" replacement can be found for him. I wonder what role they played in putting Ed Milliband in as party leader?

In June 2014, while speaking to the Labour Friends of Israel, Miliband stated that if he became Prime Minister he would seek "closer ties" with Israel and opposed the boycott of Israeli goods, saying that he would "resolutely oppose the isolation of Israel" and that nobody in the Labour Party should question Israel's right to exist.

I wonder what will be in the next tranche of Epstein papers, and who will fall then?

Podge_irl · 08-02-2026 05:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217735#Comment_124217735

I dont think they were lies and smears. His actions since leaving Labour should easily show that. Starmer being poor in no way mitigates Corbyn being terrible.

ancapailldorcha · 08-02-2026 05:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217693#Comment_124217693

Precisely. They turned the party into an unelectable racist sh*tshow and once again there's an attempt at whitewashing. They're away grifting with their new catastrophe now.

I'm glad McSweeney is gone. He's needed to go for quite some time. The original plan was for him to do comms and Sue Gray to handle governance but that obviously never happened so he became far too powerful.

deirdremf · 08-02-2026 05:10PM

Talk about hedging your bets -

Streeting is a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, a co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Jews and a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel.[46][47][48] He is also a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims and a supporter of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.[49] In September 2018, he held the last in a series of London-wide consultations to create the Working Definition of Islamophobia.

All things to all men, but most likely just a careerist.

Tell me how · 08-02-2026 05:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217693#Comment_124217693

Again with the deflection.

Podge_irl · 08-02-2026 05:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217785#Comment_124217785

Deflection of what? I am not the one who brought up Corbyn and his apparent benignness. Starmer being weak and having poor judgement does not change the past.

deirdremf · 08-02-2026 05:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217742#Comment_124217742

If votes are anything to go by, Corbyn was a far better leader than Starmer, and than Milliband. Even when Johnson used the Brexit issue to corral Labour in 2019 knowing that the Labour voters were divided on the issue, they got more votes than Grey man managed to get when an election was handed to him on a plate.

2015 - Milliband 9.3 m votes
2107 - Corbyn 12.9 m votes
2019 - Corbyn 10.3 m votes
2024 - Starmer 9.7 m votes

Podge_irl · 08-02-2026 05:25PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217801#Comment_124217801

Votes aren't anything to go by. Seats are because that is what actually gives you power and let's you impact things. Corbyn equally led to record high votes for the Tories despite their rampant incompetence.

deirdremf · 08-02-2026 05:26PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217746#Comment_124217746

They turned the party into an unelectable racist sh*tshow

It's a shame to see zionist lies being posted here.

deirdremf · 08-02-2026 05:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124217811#Comment_124217811

Votes aren't anything to go by.

I see.

General British politics discussion thread

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