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If you take the topic of Israel/Palestine this is (rightly or wrongly) something the electorate doesn’t really care about. I can quite understand them not wanting to use political capital on such an issue, where what they say will have zero impact anyway. I’m not sure about HS2, I’m personally for it, but again don’t see it as an important issue for most. They are instead focusing on issues that matter to people, we can wish different issues matter to the electorate, but probably can’t change that now.

Agreed the rhetoric will be very much about right to defend, but we all know what’s said in private and public are likely different.

That’s just not true, if you ask Tory’s to pick the labour policy on this then they would choose the most pro Palestine approach possible as this gives a dividing line to fight an election, splits the Labour Party and allows them to link Starmer to the previous unpopular leader. Having the same approach pretty much nullifies any attack line.

It’s not just the words of a manifesto, but the words he uses towards Hamas, previous things he has said on the matter etc. In the Israeli/Palestine dispute there was no doubt where his loyalties lay and he is entitled to those views. What the Torys would love Starmer to do is take a similar approach, you may ask yourself if that’s what the torys want, should we do it?

Seems odd an MP from a super left wing party like the SNP would defect to the torys!

I think for everything that is wrong with this country I am lucky to be here, many more worse options than better. The reality is Starmer has to win a popularity contest if he wants to lead the country. It’s easy for me and you when we can effectively say what we want. I wouldn’t want to have to make the tough decisions that you need to make as PM. I believe Starmer is in it for the right reasons. I believe lives in this country will be saved by a Starmer led labour government. Whether Palestinian lives will be saved im not sure we have that influence, although I would back him to put the right people in positions to make a small movement in the right direction. It’s easy to be a labour leader like Corbyn. Happy to be an indefinite party of protest, say what people want to hear and not make tough decisions. Starmer wants to lead and not have people chant his name.

No, I think Starmer would play a greater role in terms of a movement towards peace. I don’t think that will be done via public statements, but work in the background. However I think there is only so much the leader of the UK can do to influence Israel foreign policy.

I think a few things here. Without the Corbyn years I think labour position would be slightly (although not to the degree you would like) more nuanced, but fact is those years happened and we are where we are. Also the kind of response you would like, may get likes on twitter but doesn’t save any Palestinian lives. Starmer has pretty much (as opposition leader) zero influence on this and in reality Sunak not a huge amount more while USA are supporting Israel. Therefore Starmer is working in the world as it is, not the one we would like it to be. A different response splits labour and doesn’t save a single Palestinian life. Saying that I believe Starmer is a decent bloke and wants to help people in need. He can do that a bit more in power, but it will likely be through back room diplomacy than speeches.

I don’t think Starmer has a particular big ego and don’t think he would see success as a crowd chanting his name at Glastonbury . He has one focus and that is winning a general election. We can’t afford labour to be a protest party for the middle classes.

The Tory’s want Starmer to do/say things that will hurt labour and benefit them, that’s why Starmer doesn’t do/say these things.

McDonnell is a lot cleverer than Corbyn, more pragmatic, a better communicator and I think overall a much better politician.

If the Tory’s could come up with a position for Starmer they would choose something similar, that is why he won’t take that position.

Switzerland?

Andy Burnham was speaking in one of the meetings at tory conference, no issue with this. I don’t see it as giving in, it’s talking to people who may not agree with you. This is what parties who want to be more than parties of protest have to do. Starmer can write in any mainstream paper for all I care, I’m probably not going to buy (or read ) any.

I think Labour are (probably correctly) cautious about saying the wrong thing following the Corbyn regime. I think if they said what you wanted them to say it would be twisted quite badly by the media, opening the door for the torys. The reality is what they say is going to make no difference to Israel foreign policy, so saying something that causes political damage probably doesn’t make sense.

Without the Starmer interview they would still exist. Labour are trying to build a coalition of voters to win an election, not a protest party. I think it would be complacent to think they can do that refusing to engage with sun readers.

I don’t see writing the article as supporting the sun, it’s not like people will buy the paper in droves because of an article from Starmer. It’s a way of getting a message out to voters and I support giving the people an opportunity to read that message. The alternative is they only read the Tory message, I don’t see much benefit in that.

The sun readers deserve political representation like the rest of us. I am very wary about discounting the views of a whole subset of the population. I hope a decent chunk of the sun readers vote labour as this will not only improve their lives, but mine. No issues at all with Starmer putting the case forward. I also think banning the sun would set a very dangerous precedent and would not support this. I am more in favour of what happens in Liverpool where people just boycott.

I saw a video of Owen Jones debating with Margaret Hodge on Sky. My god Jones is a bad debater. Maybe he gets clicks, but his style isn’t changing anyone’s mind.

I happily avoid the Sun newspaper, I was a Liverpool fan at the time of Hillsborough but drifted to my local team (Wrexham) as I got older. Some people choose to buy the sun and that’s up to them, these people also have a right to political representation and in some seats may make a difference. I see little to be gained in telling all sun voters to vote Tory. To me what will benefit both sun readers and the people of Liverpool the most is a labour government. I am pretty apathetic about what paper Starmer (or other labour MP) writes in, I just won’t read if I don’t like the paper, in fact I probably won’t read if I do!

I think his conspiracy theory views are more in line with Trump

For all the talk about building new houses. You need the investment in infrastructure to match. Where will kids go to school, people access a gp,how will roads and parking cope etc

I think it’s one of those things that gets more attention on social media than the real world. Rightly or wrongly I don’t think most people are that bothered about Middle East politics.

There is load of sh*t history everywhere, including here. Yet you don’t seem to get as many people judging other countries as a complete entity.

I’m thinking wider though. It’s not just a poor choice of words by you, it’s pretty common for people to talk about pro/anti Israel. You don’t seem to get this for other countries. I’m not sure why this is.