KEIR Starmer's government is scarcely 100 days old, and we already have a clear picture of how its character is defined - by thuggery, lies, and hypocrisy.
Let's start with the thuggery, an investigation is to be launched into the behaviour of a thuggish Labour councillor who aggressively dragged a youthful protester out of the recent Labour conference by the neck after the student rose to protest peacefully during Rachel Reeves' speech to the conference hall.
How very dare young people assume that we live in a democracy where we have a legal right to peaceful protest. Upon rising to his feet to unfurl a banner reading: “Still backing polluters, still arming Israel – we voted for change,” the protestor was set upon by Wolverhampton Labour councillor Harbinder Singh - incorrectly described at the time as a security official - who grabbed the protester by the neck, and aggressively huckled him out of the hall, leaving visible marks on his skin.
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The identity of the man who was seen to aggressively launch himself at the protestor was not revealed by the Labour Party but later came to light after he was identified on Twitter by local independent (and former Labour) councillor Celia Hibbert. Hibbert told The National that she has been attempting to get the council to start an investigation into Singh's behaviour since last week.
She said: “If somebody was to do that to me, I would expect the council to be proactive in dealing with this issue, I wouldn't expect them to wait until they have been literally dragged to do it.”
Hibbert added that there had been "layers of failings" around the issue, saying, "It's a failing from the national party, who are supposed to make the conference a safe place for everybody – for those who agree with them and those who do not agree with them."
She continued that it’s “not a coincidence” it was someone from Wolverhampton Council involved – telling The National that there is a general culture of “bullying and intimidation”.
A City of Wolverhampton Council spokesperson said: "In line with its usual practice the Council does not comment on individual code of conduct complaints until such time as a formal finding of a breach has been made."
There has yet been no comment from the Labour Party or Councillor Singh. Neither has there been any comment from Rachel Reeves, who witnessed the incident, but to be fair to her, she's far too busy freezing pensioners and avoiding the fallout from her boss's greedy haste in accepting expensive gifts, even though she herself accepted a reported £7500 for outfits from a friend while in opposition.
They don't shop on eBay, Vinted or Primark these folk, do they.
The Financial Times reported that Reeves had received £7500 for clothing from Labour donor Juliet Rosenfeld, paid over 17 months before July's general election. Labour politicians continue their grift, Starmer and three members of his Cabinet have received more than £1 million from casino bosses, on top of tens of thousands in freebies from bookies.
There are probably too many Labour lies to detail, there is, of course, the whopper of a lie that there would be change and no austerity under a Labour government, a promise which was soon shattered with Reeves' announcement that pensioners would lose their universal entitlement to the winter fuel allowance.
During the election campaign, Labour's Scottish branch manager promised that Labour would borrow in order to boost capital investment, spending on infrastructure projects like roads, railways, schools, and hospitals. However, this week it was reported that members of the Cabinet have been asked by the Treasury to model cuts to their investment plans of up to 10% of their annual capital spending as part of this month’s spending review.
However, during a TV debate during the General Election campaign, Scottish Labour leader Sarwar turned to face First Minister John Swinney and said: “We have already committed more money to our public services, I’ve already set out how we would do more capital investment, we would borrow to do capital investment.”
Aye right, Anas, did you tell him to read your lips when you said that?
The hypocrisy of this Labour government is already off the charts, imposing hardship on the poor and the elderly while government ministers help themselves to thousands of pounds worth of freebies. But even this hypocrisy was eclipsed by Starmer yesterday.
Within minutes of Iran launching its missile attack on Israel, in retaliation for Israel's assault on Lebanon which has so far cost the lives of over 1000 Lebanese and injured over 6000 more. These deaths and injuries come on top of the more than 41,500 Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October, over 100,000 are wounded and thousands more are missing, believed dead under the rubble. Over 500 Palestinians, including over 100 children, have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem since hostilities began.
At least 43,000 Palestinians and Lebanese have died, the great majority of whom are innocent civilians, this is more than the entire population of Coatbridge, yet none of these deaths have prompted Starmer to make a solemn address to the nation, condemning reckless and irresponsible attacks without regard for the safety of civilians.
Thankfully there have been no reported deaths from the barrage of missiles launched by Iran yesterday. All civilian deaths should be condemned equally, but there's a very clear double standard with Starmer and the British government and media, the lives of Israeli civilians are to be valued far more than the lives of Palestinians and Lebanese.
And when Israel retaliates, as it assuredly will, Starmer will show little concern for the people who die due to Israel's habitual disregard for the safety of civilian populations and will continue to pretend that Israel is an innocent victim, ignoring its repeated aggression, land grabs, and its system of apartheid.
This piece is an extract from today’s REAL Scottish Politics newsletter, which is emailed out at 7pm every weekday with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from the Wee Ginger Dug.
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