Keir Starmer is infamous for back-tracking, flip-flopping, and U-turning. In a newly unearthed picture, however, a flip flop-free Starmer appears to be boldly moving forwards, and yet still people are criticising him:
Why has Starmer got hooves? pic.twitter.com/6l5NOnf0lV
— Manic Kieth Preachers KC (@wrb91) April 19, 2024
It’s likely that twitter.com has cropped the above image, so here it is in all its unsettling glory:
What on Earth is going on?
Labour’s perverse reverser
First things first, let’s establish if Starmer is indeed moving forwards in the image. Rayner certainly is, and given his position in front of her, you’d assume that Starmer is also travelling in that direction. The problem is his awkward, ungainly stance. He has the posture of an action figure that’s been plonked on the floor, and as such it’s very difficult to tell what’s going on.
It could be he stopped to look back; he could be mid-U-turn. Potentially this is the Starmer-Bot 3.0, and those things on his feet have wheels on the bottom, allowing him to zip forwards despite standing like a stick puppet with a fully-inserted stick.
Perhaps we’ll never know which direction he’s travelling in, but there is one thing we can be certain of.
Those. Fucking. Things. On. His. Feet.
They are absolutely not acceptable, as many people have pointed out:
Literally the first time in 60+ years that I’ve seen someone wearing gaiters. I understand now why they went out of fashion.
— Old Trot (@OldTrot) April 21, 2024
I did not think anyone could make the much-used 'power stance' look more ridiculous. But @Keir_Starmer is a man of talent… https://t.co/hhFp6ogeIw
— Raphael Dogg (@raphaeldogg) April 20, 2024
🤣
— troovus (@troovus) April 20, 2024
*Rishi Sunak blasted for controversial choice of footwear*
Keir Starmer: *Hold my cowboy boots* pic.twitter.com/UZYvCgws1C
— Calgie (@christiancalgie) April 19, 2024
As people have pointed out, those aren’t hooves, and they’re not cowboy boots either; they’re actually rigger boots. For those who don’t know, rigger boots are a type of pull-on safety boot worn by construction workers. It’s unclear if Starmer is on his way to a construction site, but you’d have to assume not, and that this is an instance of grafter ‘stolen valour‘.
After all, the only thing he’s ever constructed is an elaborate web of lies and broken promises.
Feels like he only goes backwards
At this point, Starmer has backtracked on pretty much every position he held five years ago. He’s reversed so much that he feels like one of those ‘bizarro’ supervillains who exist as the perfect inverse of the superhero they’re mirroring:
Distorted reflection. #Superman #Bizarro #ClarkKent #KentClark #KalEl #ElKal #Superhero #Supervillain #FelipeSmithArt #FelipeSmith pic.twitter.com/egxYygrnCZ
— Felipe Smith (@FelipeTweeters) July 26, 2019
In June 2023, Politico compiled an already out-of-date list of Starmer’s key U-turns. Said list includes:
- Abandoning several proposals to renationalise key services (despite support for such policies remaining incredibly high).
- Un-abandoning his pledge to “end outsourcing” in the NHS.
- Distancing himself from the trade unions he once claimed to support.
- Abandoning his aim to retain EU free movement.
- Not only abandoning the pledge to remove Universal Credit, but having his work and pensions secretary claim they “actually agree with the concept behind” it.
- Abandoning the plan to abolish tuition fees.
- Ditch any serious pretense of fighting climate change.
- Abandoning his pledge to increase tax for the top 5% of earners.
- Scrapping his pledge to get rid of the undemocratic House of Lords.
For a long time people criticised Starmer for failing to hold to the 10 Pledges which won him the Labour leadership race. He eventually responded by scrubbing those pledges from the internet:
In the same week Margaret Hodge said she sabotaged Labour’s chances in 2019 to stop Corbyn, and that Labour MPs will have prevented him becoming Prime Minister even if he won, we have another stark reminder of Britain’s democratic deficit: Starmer defrauding the party membership https://t.co/DBH6LqZW3p
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) December 2, 2023
Starmer’s latest stance has seen him abandoning the pro-EU crowd he used to shape Labour’s disastrous Brexit position in the 2019 election:
FBPE, this is your ‘champion’. A reminder that Keir Starmer voted for Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit deal which ended free movement of people and Erasmus. https://t.co/1m1X8LbtlQ
— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) April 19, 2024
We’ve reported a great deal on Starmer’s regressions:
Labour is advocating (or has advocated in the past 12 months) for positions which are:
- Pro-austerity.
- Anti-nationalisation.
- Pro-privatising the NHS even further.
- Anti-environment/pro-climate change.
- Pro-genocide.
These positions are simultaneously:
- Unpopular with the voting public.
- Tried-and-tested failures.
- Positions that Starmer and other Labour MPs have called out in the past.
If anyone wonders what the impact of eight years of Tory austerity has been on our country, look no further than the UN’s damning report. https://t.co/QgXi5bUKyS
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 28, 2018
Horsing around
Arguably, a politician wearing the wrong shoes isn’t newsworthy. That’s not an argument we’re making. However, there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed, and that line is allowing these pampered, overpaid elites to stride about as if they’re on their way to their forklift licensing exam.
Featured image via LBC
