Rusty Nails
Country Member
What did he say ?
2020 launching his leadership campaign....
"Speaking in Manchester, the shadow Brexit secretary called on his supporters to consider Jeremy Corbyn's 2017 manifesto as the "foundation" of the Labour Party. Sir Keir argued the last four years should also not be "trashed" but celebrated by building on the radicalism that he claimed enthused people on the doorsteps ahead of the general election. Hinting at an even more radical approach going forward, the leadership frontrunner said: “We are not going to trash the last Labour Government."
I know what he said. My post still stands.
He was never going to come out and say "Corbyn is unelectable, unlike me", not while he needed to get support from as wide a base of Labour Party members as possible...he didn't need to.
Corbyn was yesterday's man, although there was still a lot of support for him within the party membership, and there would have been no benefit to Starmer to trash him at that time.
His best means of getting the leadership was by staying loyal to Corbyn's leadership, aligned to the manifesto pledges, but at the same time coming over as a responsible politician who could continue the direction of the party while at the same time broadening its appeal to voters and unifying it.
What has happened since then is obviously a different chapter in his leadership.