David Cameron has stepped back from frontline politics after last week's election defeat but will keep his House of Lords seat for life. He was given a peerage last November so that Rishi Sunak could make him his foreign secretary.
Only in the job for a few months but reaps the benefits of his peerage for life, if he had a conscience he would relinquish it ?

Like Alan Sugar did when he left office as Business Minister under Brown? HoL appointments should be for a fixed term and if they don't contribute should not be renewed.

yet another good excuse to scrap the house of lords. thats is they ever needed another.

I have never seen the point of the House of Lords. An elected second chamber I could accept but appointing people on a whim is not for me.
Sir Kier will now have the opportunity to sort it, let's see if he has the balls to raise the issue, or will he, also, dish out membership like confetti.

if he did change it then it would be quite revolutionary as his party has members as well as the tories and liberals. unless you are a practising christian i doubt many are in favour of the church being represented there and getting rid of it would get little adverse reaction from people. that would be a small start but better than nothing.

it's a hangover from feudalism, like the monarchy.

Can,t mention Politics and Conscience, In the same post i,m afraid.

Always regarded him as a smarmy Park Lane Car salesman selling Rollers to those with cash to spare…a sort of Uriah Heep of politics.

I guess you'll have a problem with Jacqui Smith getting a peerage too so she can serve in the cabinet, despite her role in the expenses scandals of the last labour government?

Labour and Conservatives, despite their protestations, are cheeks of the same arse.

Snowy, you've been listening to too much George Galloway!

They're both 100% correct

He’s right though

Sir Keir will end up in the House of Lords when the bold Angela, backed by the membership ousts him.
Ed Davey has already been booked for their Lordship's pleasure to headline their Christmas Karaoke.
Sweet Caroline.
I wonder if John Ashworth is being recommended for elevation.

Starmer has served his purpose in gaining power, the plotting will be turning very quickly into action to remove him very quickly.
Don't think it'll be Rayner that replaces him but it will be a hard lefter backed by Momentum and the unions imo.

Rayner is my bet. At least she'll be one of the favourites. Who is your bet, Mr PTID.

And I bet Starmer is still prime minister in 2 years' time. Anybody feel like putting their money where their mouth is? I'm up for it.

I agree he won't be going nowhere soon that's for sure.

How much are you prepared to bet?? Are you prepared to go to £100,000 or even £200,000.

Starmer will have to stay, he’s indispensable, he can read documents with words of more than two syllables, they need him..especially the dinner lady.

Have you won the lottery Derwent

How’d you find out…. ….my cover’s blown now.
I’ve been to pick up Derwent’s new ocean going yacht from the builders with my new crew since he won the Lottery.

Let's just say I have a few bob.

We have to find an appropriate name for the vessel.
I am open to suggestions.

Oh, I don't know. That sounds like a facetious challenge. My £50 says Starmer is still PM 2 years from today. Yours says he won't be. Mr. I can hold our stakes if you like.
Or are you just pretending to believe this guff about Starmer being a hapless stooge for the hard left?

This doesn’t even feel like a Labour government.
It’s got that feeling of a load of lower middle class filing clerks led by their Chief Clerk, have taken over the running of the country by accident..it has a distinct lack of working class pedigree, apart from the Angela the token pleb on a lead.
I see no fire in their collective belly’s, just the mild indigestion of eating their own words.
As leaders go, you’d only follow him out of curiosity……is there no fire in politicians any more, no urgency to lead us to a better tomorrow…?

Just seeing how far you would be prepared to go.
Looks like fifty quid.
My bet has already been struck and it is for a £100 stake at decent odds over the full term, so your offer is less attractive.
You will have noticed that Momentum/the hard left have been very quiet since Starmer became leader and the reason why is very simple. The first step to power is becoming electable and Starmer has achieved that. The unions have helped him by collectively causing chaos and disruption. Now it's pay back time. These pay demands are still there, so how will they be handled?? Will the Junior Doctors suddenly reduce their 35% demands or the train drivers their demands, or will the new Government cave in. Quite legitimate and reasonable questions don't you think. Starmer has had no pressure from within...........so far. That pressure is about to begin, unless of course the unions were just playing silly buggers to help topple the Government.
Angela is the darling of the left, just like Prescott was. Blair solved that by hiding JP in plain sight and Starmer is following suit with Rayner. The big difference/question is while Prescott was happy to accept that situation, will Angela also be happy. I think not.
BUT BUT BUT.....................we shall see.
Keep yer powder dry, old chum.

with tony blair down the road doing an arfur daley impersonation. would you buy a used car from any of these two or any politician for that matter even honest nige.

Still a member of the Labour party are you Derwent? Starmer has spent the last 4 years deselecting left wingers. Corbyn and others had to stand against the official Labour candidates to put their views across. Momentum's membership has dropped from 100,000 in Corbyn's heyday to less than 5,000 now. The unions will look after their own members interests, as they have always done.

The country is in an absolute mess so there's no doubt the new government will end up deeply unpopular, but - unlike the bat-shit crazy Tories - Starmer's retread of New Labour will hang together, just like the Blair-Brown model did from 1997-2010. Mind you, I doubt they've got much chance of winning the next election - voters are nothing if not fickle these days.

only labour will scupper their chances of winning the next election by doing more or less than the tories have done to our lives in general depending on the subject. the tories put the bar so low on reducing all types of immigration its hard to see em lose on that. everything is woke now so they cannot make that worse. the motorist, which is what the vast majority of us are, might be the ones to suffer by pricing us out of doing something we have done all our lives. if that does not work there,ll be more laws and restrictions around motoring where i drive to the supermarket is like planning the d day invasion. doubt all other issues like tv licenses, political reform will be big vote winners or loses. their main problem by 2029 is the muslim vote unless they sell their soul for a growing minority.

I have the impression the minority like the Muslims are more inclined to vote, there 25 Muslim MPs 15 of the Labour. The average Brit has no interest in voting but unless they start taking an interest in politics we will have a Muslim P.M. in the near future,

problem for brits is if they did renew their interest and voted these votes would be spread across many parties unlike the muslim vote was at one time more or less totally labour. given the choice we,d more likely vote for a muslim than they would for a white brit, hindu or sikh if they represented the party of our choice.

Yep, still a member, fully paid up. Laugh all you want if that is what floats yer boat, doesn't bother me.
We'll see what happens, nothing is surer than that.
As for voters, when were they not fickle???
The "bat-shit Tories" you refer to played a big part in getting Labour elected. It is not all down to Starmer although he played his part.
Yes the unions look after their members but that is not all they do. They are also politically motivated and do contribute significantly to the party, so it is fair to expect that they just might look away from putting pressure on the party of their choice.
It is also fair to expect them to see a return on their "investment".

Voters are not fickle.

Voters have for years been conditioned by the media and newspapers, but with the advent of social media a lot more people have a lot more access to the truth.
There are those who still vote out of dumb habit…me dad voted Labour/Tory etc but that’s down to laziness, beats having to think.
There are a lot more floating voters, and they decide elections.
This very board gives the answer politicians have to face nowadays. One time we’d have access to the letters page of the Mail…..social media has expanded our access to an extent unimaginable not that long ago, to scrutinise and share opinions…politicians are getting the same treatment, no bad thing.

If there was a crime called "misgovernment" then Cameron,May,Johnson, Truss and Sunak should be charged IMO.

And Blair / Brown were innocents I suppose?

Add them to the list too and lets see the outcome.

How far do you have to go till the last government made a decent fist of protecting and advancing the country's interests rather than their own? WW2?

Add Thatcher the arms snatcher

Bobs money boat built with hard Labour

they caused us having 14 years of tory rule not what the tories had to offer. same 14 years on why we are under labour again. most vote against rather than for anybody now.