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Keir along with Theresa May and John Major were true bureaucrats but they all had no real charisma. Sadly charisma is valued more by voters than other qualitie

Keir along with Theresa May and John Major were true bureaucrats but they all had no real charisma. Sadly charisma is valued more by voters than other qualities of the political leader of a country.

roryirvine 4mo ago
Major was actually great in front of a crowd (or in a crowd, standing on his soap box!), and thrived when faced with hecklers. Starmer, by contrast, is good in small groups and one-on-one - he really shone in podcasts and "chatty" interviews. Both are pretty charismatic in their preferred settings. Neither is a "complete package", but that's common in British politics, and you can certainly see why they won their party's leadership and led them to general election victories. May, by contrast, really did lack charisma. A decent, principled administrator but far from being a people person. She became party leader in the chaotic period immediately after Brexit, winning by default after her rivals imploded. I don't think she'd have come first (or even second) in a properly-contested vote.
- jjgreen 4mo ago
  Major never recovered from rumours that he tucked his shirt into his underpants.
mamonster 4mo ago
>Sadly charisma is valued more by voters than other qualities of the political leader of a country. Isn't this basically an internal coup? That said I fail to see the point of him being replaced, the next person won't do any better.
- ben_w 4mo ago
  > Isn't this basically an internal coup? Kinda, but the coup was because Starmer is polling badly, and in the local elections he performed badly. > That said I fail to see the point of him being replaced, the next person won't do any better. It would be difficult to do worse, but not impossible. (I bet a Labour version of Truss exists, whoever they are I hope they don't win).
jmkni 4mo ago
I always had a soft spot for May When she was Home Secretary before being Prime Minister, it was her who blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon America wanted to extradite him and lock him up for decades (some even talked about “frying” him) She’ll always have my respect for putting her foot down and saying no

Keir along with Theresa May and John Major were true bureaucrats but they all had no real charisma. Sadly charisma is valued more by voters than other qualities of the political leader of a country.

roryirvine 4mo ago

Major was actually great in front of a crowd (or in a crowd, standing on his soap box!), and thrived when faced with hecklers. Starmer, by contrast, is good in small groups and one-on-one - he really shone in podcasts and "chatty" interviews. Both are pretty charismatic in their preferred settings. Neither is a "complete package", but that's common in British politics, and you can certainly see why they won their party's leadership and led them to general election victories. May, by contrast, really did lack charisma. A decent, principled administrator but far from being a people person. She became party leader in the chaotic period immediately after Brexit, winning by default after her rivals imploded. I don't think she'd have come first (or even second) in a properly-contested vote.

jjgreen 4mo ago
Major never recovered from rumours that he tucked his shirt into his underpants.

mamonster 4mo ago

>Sadly charisma is valued more by voters than other qualities of the political leader of a country. Isn't this basically an internal coup? That said I fail to see the point of him being replaced, the next person won't do any better.

ben_w 4mo ago
> Isn't this basically an internal coup? Kinda, but the coup was because Starmer is polling badly, and in the local elections he performed badly. > That said I fail to see the point of him being replaced, the next person won't do any better. It would be difficult to do worse, but not impossible. (I bet a Labour version of Truss exists, whoever they are I hope they don't win).

jmkni 4mo ago

I always had a soft spot for May When she was Home Secretary before being Prime Minister, it was her who blocked the extradition of Gary McKinnon America wanted to extradite him and lock him up for decades (some even talked about “frying” him) She’ll always have my respect for putting her foot down and saying no