1/ Thread on Starmer and the mess he's got himself into (1/11)

The thing about the #LabourLeaks fiasco is that it didn't have to be fiasco. That it is, is down entirely to Starmer.

2/ All he had to do is what Corbyn did, stay out of party squabbles, leave it to due process via the General Secretary and/or NEC to sort out. The same way PM's stay out of legal cases. Something you think a QC like Starmer should know by instinct.

3/ Yet he got involved from the start; not allowing due process to take place, eg suspensions pending investigation of the allegations in the leaks; starting an inquiry into how the leak happened not the allegations.

4/ He's put himself, deliberately or not, on the side of those who're alleged to have sabotaged Labour. The more he sticks by them, the worse the fiasco gets. If now drops them and lets due process take place. It'll look like he got it wrong and is u-turning.

5/ Not for the first time he has snookered himself. He's already done with the Tories by handcuffing himself to the Tories' #COVID response. He has supported it all the way and only quibbled about details of timing and comms.

6/ When blame is inevitably allocated for the tragedy of the highest death toll in Europe, he's attached Labour and himself to it. He's also made significant mis-steps on his botched response to #BlackLivesMatter and his failure to support black MPs like Abbott and Butler.

7/ All of these messes are ones that he has got himself into when it was actually easier not to get into them. How much easier was it to stick up for Abbott and Butler in the face of the racist abuse they get at the height of BLM than it was to duck it and stay silent?

8/ These errors all down to failures in his personal judgment. Add to that policy vacuum where he can't be committal about anything and 4 month in, his leadership is already in trouble. No, you don't see the mainstream media saying that.

9/ If you're still looking for 'insight' from the people who missed the collapse of Labour in Scotland, the rise of Corbyn and the Brexit result and who bought blindly 'herd immunity', get help!

10/ To any rational observer, Starmer has needlessly boxed himself in, handcuffed himself to Johnson while being the bodyguard for Labour's saboteurs. He needs to change and change quickly

11/ He's in the running with Gaitskell, Kinnock and Milliband to be worst Labour leader ever, in just 4 months!

This Thread on Starmer's failings as leader as a blog post for easier reading and sharing: https://dravalblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/07/is-starmer-already-on-track-to-be-the-worst-labour-leader/