I suspect much of this goes back to Alex Salmond’s opposition to the Iraq War in 2003. Now I think he was quite sincere in his opposition to that, and he was largely proven to be correct, however it played out for him incredible well domestically.
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She and Malcolm Turnbull really need to hit things off! Bitter².
OK. Let me see if I have understood this.
The SNP used their opposition day motion to put forward a motion on Gaza that they knew Labour couldn’t support. The motion only called for a ceasefire in one direction and criticised Isreal for ‘collective punishment’. Labour can’t support this motion as international efforts to get a two state solution are not going to be helped by governments who are part of that diplomatic process accusing Israel of enacting collective punishment of Palestinians.
So mindful of this, and the fact that the last time the SNP did this this to Labour, his MPs got death threats, Starmer petitioned the Speaker to prioritise a Labour motion calling for a broad ceasefire over the SNP one calling for a Israeli ceasefire only and criticising them for Collective punishment, and the speaker agreed with Starmer.
So in response to this the SNP, who are of course only motivated by deep concern for the Palestinian people, refused to ‘put party politics aside’ and vote for the Labour motion calling for a ceasefire, walked out of the commons and are now blaming Labour for playing politics.
Meanwhile the Tories sensing the opportunity to wriggle out of a vote they were going to lose, and an opportunity to put one on Labour, also withdraw.
And this is all Labour’s fault?
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This is unbelievably (and sadly) naive. There is no negotiating table. Israel have literally declared themselves above international law in response to ICC. They are conducting genocide in full view and with full support of UK and US. Starmer himself endorsed collective punishment before lying and saying he didn’t.
You argued with me a couple of months ago that Labour calling for a ceasefire was pointless, now you want a ceasefire as long as there’s a balance??
Israel won’t stop until UK/US/EU withdraws support and applies sanctions like they would with every other country who were doing the same. In the absence of this then the only hope is that a bigger movement of decent people are motivated to action and the BDS movement has an impact
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‘I have worked in other war zones. But what I witnessed during the next 10 days in Gaza was not war — it was annihilation’
‘I stopped keeping track of how many new orphans I had operated on. After surgery they would be filed somewhere in the hospital, I’m unsure of who will take care of them or how they will survive. On one occasion, a handful of children, all about ages 5 to 8, were carried to the emergency room by their parents. All had single sniper shots to the head’
But we can’t mention collective punishment in case Israel get upset and leave the negotiating table that has been so successful this far
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I am sure you didn’t mean that, I’d edit it if I could but can not so quick get to it!
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Doesn’t seem to be any negotiating table.
Israel appear to do what the fuck they want.
Every one of our UK politicians are gutless and self centred frauds, and I’m sickened by the fact that sometime later this year I have to choose which one to vote for.
The problem really is the voters who don’t give a shit about anyone as long as rich people pay less taxes and buy more assets. Then they wonder why we have been in recession since 2008, fuckwits! (sorry for the language I just haven’t another word for them).
Must admit I find Starmer creepy but that’s better than a clown as PM imo.
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She should speak in my hotels ‘conference’ room she’d fill it all by herself. 
Every time I see you dropping all these around 
, I picture you at work and feel a bit sorry for you
Gesture politics is not going to help one Palestinian. Israel are not going to look at the UK voting for an amendment like the SNPs and go ‘It looks like we’ve gone too far, we need to back off’.
The only thing that is going to bring an end to this crisis is persuading Israel to get behind a two state solution, and that is a lot fucking harder than it already is if the government is pissing of Israel through parliamentary motions.
The only naivety on display here is thinking that the SNP are motivated by anything other than fear of Labour taking their seats. That’s why their motion called for an Israeli only ceasefire, and didn’t also request Gaza stop launching rockets the other way, and described Israel’s offensive as collective punishment. They knew that Labour wouldn’t be able to vote for it. And their walk out was nothing more than a sulk that Starmer outmanoeuvred them.
If the SNP were motivated by concern for Palestine, they wouldn’t have put forward a motion that they knew couldn’t be supported, and they wouldn’t have thrown their toys out of the pram when they had the opportunity to vote for a motion calling for a ceasefire.
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Also, as an aside, the situation in parliament the other night is exactly the reason why we can’t have PR.
Huh? It’s exactly why we should have it and the bastards can grow up for a change.
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If parties can’t sort out their impulse to tear a strip off each other, and find compromise and consensus around something gestural as calling for a ceasefire in a conflict thousands of miles away, how the hell do they work collaboratively on a domestic agenda?
There isn’t the maturity in Parliament for PR. There is no willingness to compromise. If parties don’t get their own way, they sulk.
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Because in a FPTP system there is no advantage to compromise at all. It’s my way or the highway.
If parties of differing views are forced to work together it is just possible that you will end up with better governance.
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The whole episode reeks of snide self preservation on all sides.
The bottom line being, people end up voting on their perception that their snidey cunt isn’t quite as snidey a cunt as the other ones
Or an alternative reading.
The nature of our politics means that to get elected you have to appeal to people outside your core base, which make you look like a snidey cunt to your natural voters.
Keir Starmer looks like a snidey cunt to left wing voters, because he is trying to build a support base that also includes the centre ground.
But also it’s notable that whenever a Tory tries to appeal to the centre, they are also viewed as a snidey cunt by hardcore Tory support as well.
You’ve got a lot more faith than I have.
Yeah it’s a concern, but real change has to start somewhere. First step has to be getting the Tories out of government. Where you go from there is open to debate but you ultimately have to tackle the deep seated issues of the super wealthy influencing government policy and public perception / opinion.
Hell knows how you achieve that.
Thanks also for your explanation of the other nights events in parliament. I’ve been under a rock this week. Quite a comfy place thinking about it.
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But to bring it in will probably require either a referendum or party to make it a key manifesto item in a general election - and a lot of people are not going to consider it a favourable idea if they see parties behave like that - because that reinforces the way PR has often been portrayed as a failing system when used elsewhere.