PM Starmer still in office but power has been removed

[stollen]

after a 24hr meeting at Westminster…”a stay of execution.”

When I started my UK travels in early June, I found Europeans not to be particularly clued-in to anything of depth re Trump. They knew they didn’t like him, but he was the US’s problem. A month ago a Scottish woman swore that Putin did not have compromat on Trump, and definitely nothing to do with females. A British man at a bar explained his disdain for the left and its pronoun overuse, while I told him he had “forest for trees” myopia. “I’ve lived in the US. It seems to me your two sides just need to talk to each other.”

Since then, the UK has been on the brink of WWIII and its PM on the verge of being sacked, its royal institution upended. Now It’s rare to go anywhere without hearing Trump’s name.

I’ve marvelled at the transition. We’ve gone from British humor about the Gulf name-change (“In the US we refer to it as ‘El Golfo del Gringo Loco’”) to the possible dismantling of the monarchy.

It’s a fascinating time to be here.

[Lovie777]

1. The hatred for shithole and comrades is growing around the world...............

hopefully Starmer will survive.

[stollen]

2. I don't take sides with the Brits on Starmer

…I’m basically an observer, but nobody in the UK seems to know more about US politics than I do (on this board I’m at the bottom 25%).

FYI, everyone I’ve spoken to dislikes Starmer, basically for economic reasons. Again, I just listen. I feel like Mark Twain in Germany. Wish I could write.

[AZProgressive]

5. Austerity doesn't help center left politicians win elections

There was a European study that showed that adopting right wing policies such as austerity (even worse when they enact it) doesn't win them more votes but often alienates their existing voters so I understand why he isn't politically popular right now besides any scandal related issues.

[stollen]

9. Isn't the monarchy supposed to be neutral?

What happens should the UK police find in its files evidence that Andrew had been sharing govt secrets with Epstein, Epstein passing them to the Russians, coupled with a pedo ring? “Fuck” has become the US national motto under Trump. The UK is at the “unfortunate” stage though it’s proven to be good at sacking sacrificial lambs.

The Brits have much bigger worries. They just don’t know it yet.

[RandySF]

3. He was doomed the moment he became PM.

The UK is bitterly divided.

[stollen]

7. Worse than in the US??

Not debating you… just wondering.

When PMs first met over Mandelson, they seemed unified: he must go. And now he’s gone. Meanwhile, the US plays “rock, paper, scissors.”

What about the monarchy? Will Parliament have the intestinal fortitude to bring it down or will it be satisfied with a royal title rebuke and change of royal address?

At the moment there are discussions about who will replace Starmer. Won’t that leave GB in a weakened state against Russia and the US? Unless Starmer can be directly connected to malfeasance, I think replacing him is as bad an idea as Brexit….just my concerns with little background on parties’ political stances.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. I don't think there's the remotest chance of anyone attempting to bring down the monarchy

It seems a complete fantasy. It would be electoral suicide, as well.

[JBTaurus83]

4. The Labor Party

Isn’t living up to the moment either. Like many Center-Left parties in Europe, they seem to have lost any real reason for existing. This leaves the door wide open for the far right or left to step in.

[stollen]

6. Thanks for your assessment

At least the UK had the wherewithal to figure out that just making be it would be a good idea to join with other NATO countries and protect a fellow NATO member per treaty agreement against the US.

The Brits seem very concern bout immigrants sponging off its social systems, which borders on scapegoating to me.

People I’ve been talking to have run the gamut but are largely upper crust oil and gas folks.

[DFW]

8. And there lies the rub, as the Bard would say

Here in Germany, the once dominant SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) led in the 1970s by the smart and able Helmut Schmidt, got sabotaged by its rigidly ideological left wing, pissed off its coalition partner, the Free Democrats, who then joined, and thus handed power to, Kohl’s CDU, the German Center-right.

Having no more solid leadership, the SPD drowned what remained of their identity into being the party of the hated bureaucrat, adopted the useless slogan of “mehr Gerechtigkeit,” meaning “more justice,” because they were too scared (with good reason) to say, “raise our high taxes even higher!”

Predictably, from getting a formidable 40+% in national elections, they sunk to under 20%, an embarrassing disgrace. As you put it, they lost their reason for existing. The German left now has a choice between the Greens, who just ditched their own common sense leader for a mish-mosh cabal of wannabes, and two extremist parties who siphon off just enough votes from the Greens to prevent them from doing any more good.

The Germans used to mock the French with their permanent irreconcilable differences, but now they are, themselves, quickly becoming the village of Asterix.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. You're quoting the Tory leader there

I think the fear and uncertainty is being kept alive by opponents like the Tories, and by the media who see a story they can pontificate on endlessly.

There is no one, in Labour or any other party, who would obviously do a better job. All have faults. Some have huge ones, far bigger than Starmer.