I Just Can’t Vote Labour This Time - And That Is Down To Starmer

Well, that’s been quite a week and we have quite a week ahead.

On Thursday 6 May, elections will be held across England's county councils, metropolitan boroughs, unitary authorities and district councils, as well as for the London Assembly.

Elections will also be held for police and crime commissioners in England and Wales, as well as for 13 directly-elected mayors in England - including in London. 

We’ve seen refurbished flats, wallpaper, sleaze means sleaze and a growing suspicion that it might be getting closer to the time for an increasingly lacklustre Johnson to foxtrot Oscar. But what about the terrifying prospect of his replacement. Murdoch minion Gove? Off-with-their-heads Patel? Part-human Raab? Why not just see if Rupert wants the job himself?

Awkward Keith, in his sharp suit, has been trudging around Hartlepool, dazzling the voters with his pint holding skills, Saudi Paul in tow, dreaming of his next visit to the House of Saud, so he can pucker up and kiss further Royal headchopping bottoms.

What a guy. 

If you’re in Hartlepool, I would urge you to vote for the independent socialist candidate, Thelma Walker, who is backed by the Northern Independence Party. 

When Starmer wasn’t in Hartlepool he found himself in John Lewis. What was meant to be a dig at Johnson’s flat refurbishment turned into a cheap political photo opportunity, widely ridiculed for generating the sort of cringe you would normally reserve for a naked selfie from Mark Francois.

Do we want to give the Tories to Hartlepool? Of course not.

Will we campaign for or support Keir Starmer? LOL. 

Here’s the thing. I have friends who have been out campaigning for Labour, including councillor candidates, and they have my full respect. They are still of the belief that it’s better to fight for change from within, and they have every right to do so. I am of the belief that handing over your membership fees to pay for Streeting’s chocolate hobnobs and Starmer’s lip gloss is a cardinal sin. You may as well give it to a needy charity, or join a political party that best serves your core beliefs, such as the Breakthrough Party, as I know many of my old Labour Left friends have done. 

Even if you still plan to vote for Labour this Thursday, I fully respect your decision. At least you’re using your vote. 

But for me, there are too many reasons NOT to vote for a Labour candidate on Thursday, so for the first time in more than 20 years, in fact, the first time EVER, I cannot and will not vote for the Labour Party candidate. Not a hope in hell. 

“But they’re the lesser of two evils”? 

Let’s put this in simple terms. I’ve got two pills in my hand. One is blue, and it will kill you quickly, the other is red, and it will kill you, but not as quickly as the nasty blue one. Considering nobody is forcing you to take either pill, it’s entirely optional, which pill would you take?

I won’t bother with a Twitter poll because nobody in their right mind would take either pill. You’d politely refuse, or you might even wonder why I’m trying to book you a one-way ticket to the pearly gates. 

The lesser of two evils is still evil. 

Can you really put an X next to the Labour candidate knowing the direction of travel the party is heading in? 

Can you really put an X next to the Labour candidate knowing the party leader has swapped any form of principled leadership for a bit of support from the Daily fucking Mail? 

Can you really put an X next to the Labour candidate knowing the party has abandoned ‘for the many, not the few’ and replaced it with, for the donors, and fuck all for you? 

Can you really put an X next to the Labour candidate knowing the party has been a stronger supporter of Boris Johnson than many of the hard-right sovereignty-obsessed Tory backbenchers? Are we enjoying that unlimited free sovereignty that the Labour Party supported when they voted through Johnson’s Brexit bumfluffery? 

I used to believe that any Labour government was better than a Tory government, and maybe it still is, but there’s just absolutely zero evidence that suggests my life and your life will be any better under a government led by Keir Starmer. 

I cannot and will not support them. Why should I?

Starmer has replaced free broadband for focus groups, Murphy for Mandelson and opposition for appeasement. I would feel embarrassed voting for *this* Labour Party. 

Starmer himself is a huge problem. Yes, his lack of charisma is glaringly obvious. Every time he smiles I have visions of him being a tree-climbing peeping Tom in his younger days, a bit like George McFly in Back to the Future. I’m sure he wasn’t anything of the sort, of course, I think it’s just a thing with establishment torchbearers.

The left don’t like him, the hard-right warmongers and apartheid supporters don’t like him, and his own personal approval ratings have been plummeting for months on end, which sadly goes back to his charisma and likability, of which he scores a zero in both.

This is Starmer’s first electoral test, and there’s every chance it may well be his last unless he makes significant council gains and comfortably holds on to the Labour stronghold of Hartlepool. 

You will remember the judgement of Jeremy Corbyn, and the same must apply to Keir Starmer. If Starmer fails, he has to go, and take with him his diabolical bunch of careerist unknowns masquerading as a shadow cabinet, his ridiculous fucking flags, and live a long and happy life on the after-dinner speaking circuit with dodgy Dave and sniffy Gideon. They could work as a trio. J P Morgan, Black Rock and Deloitte would snap them up in no time. 

Keith, Dave, and George, the Tory trio, the socially conservative Rod, Jane, and Freddie. Yours for a whole hour for £50,000. Each. 

Perhaps they need an agent? 

I urge you to vote for a socialist candidate on Thursday. The more socialists we can get into a position of power, even at a local level, the better for the wider, somewhat fractured left movement.

But I cannot vote for this Labour Party, because they have betrayed socialists, they have dragged the party kicking and screaming to the right, and not being able to vote for them genuinely saddens me. 

Hope you all have a wonderful day. 

Rachael x

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, if you want to chip in towards improving my ongoing campaign, and it would cause you *no hardship*, you can do so here: