Saturday 10 August 2024

A good week for Starmer

If there was a winner out of all the horrendous violence that disfigured many of England's towns and cities last week, it was the PM. Starmer looks like kind of prime minister we used to have before Tony Blair tried to make Downing Street cool and groovy. He's the first PM for years who doesn’t appear to be acting the part and is genuinely capable and confidence-inspiring, a serious leader, ready for anything. He looked calm in the crisis and gave a sense of being totally in command without hogging the limelight or trying to make political capital out of what started as a terrible tragedy for a few families in Southport and ended in widespread disorder by a bunch of far-right lunatics and racists.

However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t walk a little bit taller at the end of the week. Starmer faced down the far right and won. 

By common consent, he handled events well. It has to be said he was lucky for several reasons. His first real crisis came in a field he knows well, public order and the law, and his opponents have damaged themselves by overplaying their hand, particularly Farage, Reform UK and Elon Musk.

We also learned that while there are lots of racists in Britain, they are vastly outnumbered by ordinary folk who welcome migrants from different cultures and who aren’t driven to violence by the sight of a few non-white faces.  They were out in force to help police quell any further trouble.

One of the things the rioters who went on the rampage last week are beginning to realise is just how well covered our town and city centres are by CCTV cameras . The police have already made over 600 arrests, many have pleaded guilty (they could hardly do otherwise) and have been sentenced. Others have denied guilt and have been remanded in custody awaiting a crown court hearing. Meanwhile, police forces continue to post many more pictures of easily identifiable people they would like to “speak to” and are appealing for names.

Cleveland police for example:

A lot of troublemakers should brace for a knock on the door very soon. Some of the more stupid rioters were posting videos online of their own antics and the crimes of their fellow thugs. The police were almost certainly gathering their own footage as well.

The result is that we are going to be seeing many more arrests over the coming months. After the 6 January insurrection in Washington in 2021, it took years for all the culprits to be identified and apprehended, but the authorities didn’t give up and I don’t suppose they will over here either. Offenders are going to be made an example of.

Bringing them to court for rapid sentencing after a guilty plea was a master stroke and probably played a major part in preventing further outbreaks of violence.

The far-right attempted to exploit the horror of Southport for their own ends, to trigger widespread and violent disorder to destabilise the new government and force Starmer to clamp down on immigration. It has comprehensively failed.

Not only has Starmer received a boost, his political enemies have taken a significant setback. There was never much support for the kind of racist agenda pushed by Farage, Tice, and Reform UK and after all the violence and looting of the last few days, I assume there is even less now.

Farage's personal favourability rating has plunged according to a poll by YouGov:

He is only viewed positively now by 2024 Reform supporters, which tells you a lot about them and shows how difficult it will be for Farage to lead the Tories..

Elon Musk has revealed himself to be the biggest peddler of fake news on the web. He not only retweeted a post about an entirely false Daily Telegraph headline, he actually thought Starmer was about to build ‘detainment camps’ for British rioters on the Falklands! How stupid can you get to believe that?

The screenshot of the fake headline was posted by the co-leader of Britain First to his 190+ million followers and was seen by two million before he deleted it without comment or an apology or even an excuse. I bet most of the two million who saw it still think it's true.

His latest effort is the retweeting of another ridiculous post by a US podcaster:

Joe Rogan specialises in spouting off about controversial stuff to earn the $200 million he reputedly gets from Spotify for making podcasts. He is also clearly a very stupid man. Rogan compares England to ‘Soviet’ Russia when it comes to free speech!  Really?

Prosecuting rioters is right but why should the people who provoked the riots in the first place get away with it?  Incitement is incitement from wherever it's delivered - as Donald Trump will find out in 2025 if he loses this November's election.

Musk's decision ("I'm a free speech absolutist") to allow the likes of Tommy Robinson and Donald Trump back on Twitter after they were banned is going to haunt him. I think it’s becoming pretty obvious that the time has come for social media to be better regulated to prevent men like him and Rogan from using their influence to disseminate misinformation.

Starmer now has the perfect excuse. He should strike while the iron is hot.

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