Open Letter To Keir Starmer

Here's the transcript of my open letter to Keir Starmer video.

Mr Starmer,

You have made some statements over the last couple of days with some incorrect assumptions that I’d like to disabuse you of.

1. You are not one of the few Labour leaders to have won a General Election.  You were the beneficiary of an archaic electoral system that benefits both Tory and Labour over other parties that allowed you to walk into Downing Street because the Tory vote collapsed due to their toxic reputation at the time of the 2024 General Election.  Labour could’ve had Satan as leader and the Tories had God and Labour still would’ve walked into Downing Street.
2. You do not have a 5-year mandate.  Most of the policies that were in your election manifesto have been either watered-down or abandoned and you’ve tried to implement policies that weren’t in your election manifesto at all.  You sold yourself and Labour on a single word – change – and you haven’t even managed to stick to that single word policy either.  You have attacked disabled people and their benefits, just like the Tories.  You have attacked “illegal” migrants even though the Refugee Convention says that there are no illegal routes and no restriction on where the refugee is allowed to choose as their destination, just like the Tories.  You were going to keep the two-child benefit cap, just like the Tories, until you were dragged kicking and screaming into a U-turn by the public outcry and backbench revolt.  You have moved Labour further to the Right to attract Reform voters, just like the Tories.  You’ve mired Labour in multiple scandals of your own making, just like the Tories did to their party.  You have failed to improve the lives of the majority of people in the UK, just like the Tories.  You bend over backwards for the rich donors and big business, just like the Tories.  You have continued to make the UK complicit in the war crimes and genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, just like the Tories.  You have spat in the face of and broken international law, just like the Tories.  You have become increasingly authoritarian and abused power, just like the Tories.  You have caused chaos in government, just like the Tories.  So, I ask you where is the change you sold yourself on?
3. You have said that you would never run away from the country you love.  That’s great for Israel but you do know you’re supposed to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, don’t you?  Because you do seem to be running the UK in the interests of Israel, not the citizens of the UK.
4. You have said that you’ve won every fight you’ve been in but you won the Labour leadership election by lying to the party members which means you haven’t even got a legitimate mandate to lead the party.  You lied to the electorate with your manifesto as I’ve already mentioned.  If you have to lie and backstab to win the fights you’ve been in, you’re hardly a shining role model or fit to lead a conga line let alone a political party.
5. You keep referring to Labour as “my party”.  Let me assure you that it’s not.  You are the current custodian of what was once a Democratic Socialist party, you are not, to paraphrase King Louis XIV of France, “the party”.  You are a cowardly weasel of a man who has managed to lie and betray his way into the leadership position and who has besmirched the good history of good work done by men much more honourable than yourself.
6. You criticised Ed Davey for his party’s role in the austerity undertaken by the Coalition government and subsequent Tory administrations, however, you seem to have forgotten the fact that your administration has continued to push austerity policies thanks to your Chancellor’s fiscal rules.  Another person you put in a position they are clearly unfit to fill.

I could go on but I’ll leave my list of corrections there and end this letter with my suggestion for the way forward for you.  I suggest that you resign forthwith and promptly throw yourself into the nearest working crematorium oven, that way you’ll actually have done something positive for the country.

An Open Letter to Jackie Doyle-Price MP

The following letter has been sent to the Thurrock Gazette, the Thurrock Enquirer and Your Thurrock.

Dear Ms Doyle-Price,

I was wondering what your opinion was on the cuts to the funding of vital services in Thurrock is as you seem to be extremely quiet on the subject.

I refer to the cut in funding through Thurrock Council to the excellent service provided by Family Mosaic that provides, amongst other things, support workers for individuals who are at their most vulnerable and in the most need of help. 

The cuts, due to take effect at the start of April, will mean that home visits to a great deal of Family Mosaic’s clients will have to be halted and those clients who are affected will have to travel to one of the new ‘hubs’ that will be set up.  The need to travel to a ‘hub’ site will not prove a problem for some, such as myself, but there are two major hurdles that will present problems for the affected individuals. 

The first problem is quite a major one for a vital service – with only a month left of the current funding, the sites for the ‘hubs’ have not even been found yet which is putting pressure on Family Mosaic and increasing the stress on the clients who rely on the service.

The second problem is that the locations chosen for the ‘hubs’ may not have the privacy required for clients to discuss some deeply personal, deeply distressing issues without fear of other people hearing those issues.

The cut to Family Mosaic’s funding by Thurrock Council is, however, not the fault of the council but of the Government of which you are a part which is savagely cutting the funding of everything that isn’t nailed down.

Where is your outrage, Ms Doyle-Price?  Where is your voice of protest in the defence of your constituents, the people you say you represent?  Your silence is deafening.

And what about the state of the staffing of sheltered housing in Thurrock where wardens are being moved from one group of units to another without a thought for the need to build up a rapport with the residents of a single unit or where some groups of units are left with no on-site cover?

The problem is that moving the staff around is no help to people who need to have some sense of continuity in their lives, continuity that could be provided by a permanent on-site warden.  Permanent wardens for each group of units would improve the care that residents are given as each warden would have the time to get to know their residents and their quirks, foibles and care needs thus be able to anticipate future problems.

There will obviously be times when a warden due to illness or annual leave won’t be available but some of the vulnerable people who live in such accommodation can cope with such short-term disruptions.  This is not the case when disruptions are the norm.

I do some voluntary work with a couple in the “warden assisted” accommodation in Dexter Close (I use quotation marks advisedly as there are occasions when there is no on-site warden) and, whilst there is a warden on-site at the moment, that situation is only short-term and only for three days a week.  At all other times, the residents are restricted to the help that arrives from off-site in response to a pull of the emergency cord in their property.  This is just not good enough.

This lack of on-site help and built rapport with a permanent warden has led to the situation that the couple I work with on a voluntary basis have on a number of occasions called me on the phone for help because they trust me and have a rapport with me.  I live a 20 minute walk from their property and have a life of my own that has to be put on hold to help them because there is no on-site help available (and at the time, according to them, the emergency cord wasn’t working to summon assistance).  Is this the situation you feel is right and proper for your constituents, Ms Doyle-Price?

Is your silence on these matters because you don’t know they are happening?  If so, why don’t you know?  Surely as the representative for Thurrock you should know exactly what’s going on in the area?

Is your silence because you don’t care?  If so, how can you say you represent anyone in Thurrock?

Or is your silence because there isn’t a lovely photo opportunity with a member of your party’s higher echelons in it for you?

Do, please, tell us, Ms Doyle-Price because some of us are desperate to know the answer to one very important question –

Who do you serve?

Waiting impatiently for your reply,

Myles Cook, Grays

If I get any response, it will be published right here.