
Keir Starmer's Domestic Leadership Skills Are Found Wanting
Some of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's closest advisers have been asking this week 'Who runs this government?' The precedents are not good when this question rears its head — when Conservative PM Edward Heath asked it before a 1974 snap general election, the voters answered 'not you, obviously,' and turfed him out.
Until he caved in on Thursday, Starmer faced a massive rebellion over proposals to cut disability benefits by £5 billion ($7 billion). Some 126 MPs, half of Labour's representation in Parliament outside the ranks of ministers, had backed an amendment that would have wrecked the government's bill. Worse for the PM, the rebels included past and present House of Commons committee chairs with deep knowledge of the subject, rather than just left-wingers who oppose any efforts to curb the bloated benefits system.
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Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer: Foreign affairs delayed me dealing with welfare rebellion
Sir Keir Starmer has said he did not get to grips with the growing rebellion over welfare reforms earlier as he was focused on international affairs. He also said he took ownership for his decisions and believed as leader he should 'carry the can' when things do not go well. The Prime Minister said he was occupied with the G7 and Nato summits and the escalating tensions in the Middle East for much of the past two weeks. He said he was 'heavily focused' on what was happening with Nato and the Middle East all weekend and that his 'full attention really bore down' on the welfare bill on Thursday. He defended the eventual U-turn, which came after more than 100 MPs launched a bid to kill the legislation with an amendment. 'Getting it right is more important than ploughing on with a package which doesn't necessarily achieve the desired outcome,' Sir Keir told The Sunday Times. He said all the decisions were his and that 'I take ownership of them'. There have been reports that rebel MPs blamed Sir Keir's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney for the Government's approach. Sir Keir said: 'My rule of leadership is, when things go well you get the plaudits; when things don't go well you carry the can. 'I take responsibility for all the decisions made by this government. I do not talk about staff and I'd much prefer it if everybody else didn't.' Ministers had hoped the reforms would get more people back into work and save up to £5 billion a year, but the concessions made leave Chancellor Rachel Reeves needing to find money elsewhere and point to possible tax rises in the autumn. On Saturday, the Prime Minister told the Welsh Labour conference the 'broken' welfare system must be fixed 'in a Labour way'. He said: 'We cannot take away the safety net that vulnerable people rely on, and we won't, but we also can't let it become a snare for those who can and want to work.' Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch will hit out at Sir Keir as 'incapable of sticking to a decision' after he backed down on his plans. The reforms would only have made 'modest reductions to the ballooning welfare bill', but the Prime Minister was 'too weak to hold the line', the Conservative Party leader is expected to say in a speech next week. The Government's original welfare package had restricted eligibility for Pip, the main disability payment in England, as well as cutting the health-related element of universal credit. Existing recipients were to be given a 13-week phase-out period of financial support in an earlier move that was seen as a bid to head off opposition. Now, the changes to Pip will be implemented in November 2026 and apply to new claimants only, while all existing recipients of the health element of universal credit will have their incomes protected in real terms. The concessions on Pip alone protect some 370,000 people currently receiving the allowance who were set to lose out following reassessment. As a year in office nears, more than half of voters think Labour has underperformed in that time, polling released on Saturday showed. The Opinium survey showed 54% think Labour has done a worse job than expected, while 18% think the party has exceeded expectations.


Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Rod Stewart says he backs Brexit leader Nigel Farage in wide-ranging political discussion
Rod Stewart got political this week, saying he supports Brexit leader Nigel Farage over current Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "It's hard for me because I'm extremely wealthy, and I deserve to be, so a lot of it doesn't really touch me," the "Maggie May" singer told The London Times in a piece published Friday. "But that doesn't mean I'm out of touch. For instance, I've read about Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn't made him popular. We're fed up with the Tories. We've got to give Farage a chance. He's coming across well." Farage founded the Brexit Party in 2019, which eventually turned into the populist Reform UK, which he leads. His party would be on track to get the most seats in parliament if a general election were held this year, according to new polling, Sky News reported this week. The next general election is scheduled for 2029. Earlier this year, Reform UK had a series of electoral wins after it secured parliamentary, mayoral and several local election seats in what Farage said is proof that Reform UK is "now the opposition party to this Labour government." "What options have we got?" Stewart replied when a reporter expressed surprise at his support for Farage. "I know some of his family. I know his brother, and I quite like him. "Starmer's all about getting us out of Brexit, and I don't know how he's going to do that. Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip." The 80-year-old had harsher words for American conservatives, especially when it comes to Ukraine. "Did you see the way [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy was treated for not wearing a tie when he went to the White House? I could have jumped on [President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance]," the singer, who temporarily took in a displaced family from Ukraine in 2022, said. "And it backfired because no one liked it. You've got the other d-------, the one with the motor car company, coming in wearing a baseball cap. … Mate, it's depressing." He was referring to Elon Musk, who has since left the administration. Stewart also had thoughts on the Israel-Hamas war. "It's depressing what's going on in the Gaza Strip," he said. "[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn't realize that this is what happened to his people under the Nazis, total annihilation. And Trump is going to turn the Gaza Strip into Miami?" The Brit also said he was "disappointed" Trump is moving "away from Europe, as America were our strongest allies." He said it also upset him that the U.S. is "signing a $47 billion arms deal with Israel. I think the British are still selling arms to the Israelis. How is it ever going to stop?"
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starmer says fixing welfare is a 'moral imperative'
Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK's benefits system is broken and fixing it is a "moral imperative", a day after a backbench Labour revolt saw him forced into a U-turn on welfare cuts. The prime minister told the Welsh Labour Party conference in Llandudno that the government would not take away the welfare "safety net that vulnerable people rely on". But he said he could not let benefits "become a snare for those who can and want to work". Despite the government's concession on its plans to reform welfare, some Labour MPs want further changes, while the Unite union has called for the proposal to be dropped altogether ahead of a vote on Tuesday. PM's benefit cuts U-turn leaves backbenchers feeling bruised We've got the right balance, says PM after benefits U-turn Faisal Islam: How much will U-turn on disability benefits cost? The BBC understands whips and cabinet ministers - including Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves - have been phoning or texting Labour MPs over the weekend, going through the names of the initial rebels in a bid to get an accurate assessment of potential voting. Some MPs are saying they have yet to make their mind up on how to vote and are awaiting a statement on Monday from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall that will spell out government concessions. Speaking at the conference in north Wales on Saturday, Sir Keir said fixing the "broken" benefits system needed to be done because it was "failing people every day", leaving "a generation of young people written off for good and the cost spiralling out of control". "Fixing it is a moral imperative, but we need to do it in a Labour way," he added. The government's initial plans, aimed at bringing down the welfare bill, would have made it harder for people to claim personal independence payment (Pip), a benefit paid to 3.7 million people with long-term physical or mental health conditions. But following a rebellion among Labour MPs and the likelihood the government would be defeated in the Commons, the government announced the stricter criteria would only apply to new claimants. It reversed its plans to freeze the health-related component of universal credit, and the payment will now rise in line with inflation for existing recipients. Ministers will also carry out a review of the Pip assessment process, with input from disability organisations. A £1bn support package to help people into work, originally scheduled for 2029, will be fast-tracked. A new "reasoned amendment" to the bill will be put down on Monday by rebel MPs, which will reflect government concessions but is expected to be similar to the now-withdrawn earlier amendment that sought to block changes to the benefits system. The BBC understands that around 50 Labour MPs currently back that new amendment. That number is likely to increase but the expectation is it will not reach the 80-plus needed to put the government in danger of defeat. However it would still represent a significant rebellion. Rebel MPs are also expected to hold a briefing on Monday night at Westminster with various disability charities. Labour MP Diane Abbott earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she thought the result of a vote on the new plans would be tight, partly because backbenchers are still "upset about the lack of consultation" and because of "the notion of a two-tier benefit system". But former Labour justice secretary Lord Falconer told the programme that "sensible" changes to the welfare reforms were "pretty significant", and that he believed opposition among Labour MPs was "shrinking and shrinking". Debbie Abrahams, the Labour MP who chairs the Work and Pensions Select Committee, told the BBC on Friday: "The concessions are a good start, they are very good concessions and they will protect existing claimants. "However there are still concerns about new claimants. It would not be right for me not to do anything just to spare the prime minister an inconvenience." Ahead of Sir Keir's conference speech, Unite called for the "entire welfare bill to be dropped and for the government to start again", with general secretary Sharon Graham accusing Labour of "attacking the most vulnerable in our society". "The government's latest plans for disabled benefits cuts are divisive and sinister," she said. "Creating a two-tier system where younger disabled people and those who become disabled in the future will be disadvantaged and denied access to work and education, is morally wrong."