Biographer Tom Baldwin: Starmer 'will build the house, brick by brick'

A new biography of Labour leader Keir Starmer gives an intimate insight into the UK's likely Prime Minister. Journalist and biographer, Tom Baldwin paints a picture of Starmer as a man who hates being Leader of the Opposition, wants desperately to land the top job at Number 10, and doesn't hang out with MP's.
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[@cameronfateweaver2206]

Baldwin really makes a great point about one of the problems with the media today - people don't have a chance to talk about key issues that ordinary people want to know because the 24 hours newsmedia get obsessed with one issue and it dominates the political discourse over several days and weeks. Starmer isn't Prime Minister yet - but we're judging him as if he was the prime minister. The obsessions of the media class is really not healthy for this country's political system.

[@davidalderson7761]

We don’t get 45minute long interviews anymore like WALDEN used too. It’s all 30second snapshots.

[@TC8787-yq7og]

Forensic Keith - methodical, precise. 4 years in opposition and nobody knows what he stands for.

[@deanjordan2664]

Brick by brick 😂 I wouldnt trust him to build a lego house!

[@karlyoung6289]

Baldwin is a Starmer apologist.

[@agmor1]

Imagine a conversation between this boring brick and Starmer. It would have to be banned on worksites.

[@danielkelly8882]

He just really wants to be the leader of the tory party

[@Brickshu]

Starmer should run for the PM of Isreal :)

[@thewaronu8842]

"hates being Leader of the Opposition" - he hates being at Westminster too, prefers the company of his unelected bosses at Davos

[@Trendycosmetics-os6gh]

Keir Starmer will build houses with no bricks and no foundation too 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Ruylopez778]

We all hate you being leader of Labour too, Keir.

[@pip1723]

I don't he's got my vote 100% .

[@robertandrewwaite3439]

Is that the royal 'we'?

[@Ruylopez778]

@@robertandrewwaite3439 18 so far

[@robertandrewwaite3439]

@@Ruylopez778 Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (20-21 Feb) Con: 20% (-4 from 14-15 Feb) Lab: 46% (+2) Lib Dem: 9% (=) Reform UK: 13% (+2) Green: 7% (-1) SNP: 4% (+1) Ooops! You have to admit it rather immature and naive of you to pretend 'people' tapping on your comment in a KZbin comments section actually counts for what the wider general public feel and believe ...

[@gio-oz8gf]

Someone else who is standing at the head of an imaginary army.

[@johnhayes1635]

He's a dictator literally just black mailed the speaker

[@msmango6354]

Who cares what his 5 missions are they will go the way of his 10 pledges

[@oneoflokis]

That must be a boring biography!! How does one get inside the mind of a man who believes in nothing? 😏

[@archvaldor]

The simple truth is that he is a tory standing for the Labour party.

[@oneoflokis]

@@archvaldor 💯👍

[@slaneyside]

lol tell me you're a labour/starmer plant without telling me you're a labour/starmer plant...this fella is a poundshop alastair campbell

[@kez0o9]

Whats the title of the book? The life and times of a political flip-flop" sounds like a good title.

[@dondraper2488]

Starmer is or has never been for the people as he claims to be…. Being PM is just about the glory for him…. He dies a little inside whenever a member of the public touches him.

[@aaronnolan1653]

Toe curling cringe

[@GarrettReynolds-nt4df]

😂

[@victorblackley8372]

I read Baldwin's article in The Guardian's G2, The hidden life of Keir Starmer. It's lighter than air, I had to read it twice for content. Starmer is actually a human being and has nothing against gays. Great. Half way through he mentions the The Five Missions (vague commitments around the NHS, building and energy so inane any political party could have presented them) which he goes into no details about but says these "underreported" missions are "key to understanding what he would do". Each of these missions unspecified in the article "are rooted in a set everyday values based on friends, family and football" (???). I haven't read anything this vacuous since I clicked on the "husband demands divorce after wife sends him this photo" clickbait. Oliver Stone he ain't.

[@tatata1543]

The day that came out the Guardian had three Starmer puff pieces, it was embarrassing. wtf happened to that paper, I’m beginning to think Pilger had a point. It used to be progressive and hard hitting now it’s completely anodyne with columnists who basically are now just phoning it in and recycling their greatest hits when, that is, they are not fawning over their hero(Polly Toynbee I’m looking at you).

[@victorblackley8372]

@@tatata1543 A major red flag for me, if that's the phrase, was the current editor getting her hubby Adrian Chiles a column in the G2. Even before I knew their relation to one another I thought his presence was utterly incongruous. I assumed nepotism was one of the things The Guardian would stand against.

[@nolslifegren]

Anything the Guardians for im against

[@tatata1543]

@@victorblackley8372 Yea, those gave me a headache. The last one I read was about a traffic light, it was utterly moronic. I see they have also cut back on the “comment is free” bs, the number of articles opened up for comment shrinks daily and they have become increasingly censorious. Which caused a bit of a problem as they used to leave a marker that a comment had been deleted and recently those markers were outnumbering the comments. Solution: dump the marker.

[@petersmith9470]

Anyone looking forward to the film?

[@worthy81]

😂😂😂

[@anonymouse68]

As a former life long labour voter I feel no excitement at all for a Starmer led government and should they win the majority being predicted, living under an unassailable labour government until I die.

[@djslybacon]

With Starmer it’s best to look to the people behind him, I think Angela Rayner is fantastic.

[@anonymouse68]

@@djslybacon and David Lammy, Wes Streeting, Rachel whatever her name is, next Chukka will be returning.

[@danvs4111]

rayner has already had to neuter her criticism of Israel so as to not get the boot along with many others from the left of the party @@djslybacon

[@tarscase7653]

Lammy is seriously impressive

[@anonymouse68]

@@tarscase7653an impressive tool?

[@Hanloss]

After he played his part in bringing it down?

[@jerrysmith2360]

Sir Kid Starver sychophant says he’ll build brick by brick. Every time one of his underlings lays a brick, he picks up the brick and says we can’t afford it and it’s best left to private sector.

[@BunyanaRed1958]

How does one write a book about such a boring, wooden, backstabbing, dull politician like Starmer. And make it last 448 pages. Coming to a Poundland basket soon.

[@QuestForGood]

He'll build one all right, out of straw!!!

[@kez0o9]

Sand ,it will sink into the sea overnight

[@simongarcia200]

I kinda like this interviewer.

[@MrIvarlira]

Very interesting interview

[@GrandpaVince]

Keith will deliver the goods and his grandma would be so proud of him

[@vincehammond1282]

Great interview , I think Tom Baldwin is spot on , I was a little sceptical as to Starmer at first , I now feel he has the potential to be one of our greatest prime ministers of all time ! 😉

[@ricardothorburn4089]

This guy is clearly a huge Starmer loyalist and not someone that could be trusted to write an unbiased biography

[@bilgan509]

That explains why Starmer and his Labour Party have not posed any real opposition to the Tories. Or he is the Tory twin, half-half equals a whole weakness!

[@tatreides8425]

Well the legacy media have certainly decided that they want Starmer to win. I say Starmer, because anybody who thinks this is a legitimate party of labour has taken leave of their senses!

[@amandahunter4034]

Starmer must be the dullest Labour leader ever. His biographer is right, Starmer is "ambiguous". We don't need a prime minister who is going to build the country brick by brick. We need one who is going to rebuild it quickly - course by course throughout each day. Everything that is normal in Britain today needs to be quickly overturned and better options created. A dull Establishment person isn't going to do that. Jeremy Corbyn was by far the better Labour leader.

[@markham8741]

thats why corbyn lost and ran one of the worst elections ive seen mate.

[@tarscase7653]

Amazes me people still think corbym was decent. Ran the party into thr grou d and ceded the country to a dreadful tory government. Starner is what we need, and once he is in g9vt the work will begin

[@Hanloss]

​​@@tarscase7653 if you don't think murdoch media had a heavy hand in what the public think of corbyn I'd have to personally, strongly disagree. He was prepared and ready to make change, and now we are here. I'm still always baffled at what people pick out on corbyn but the wealth of things they ignored about johnson and others, almost as some people had things to gain by tories/Johnson getting in power. Edit to add, if you think corbyn was antisemetic but johnson wasn't, then boy do I have either news to tell you or a bridge to sell ya, take your pick

[@22448824]

@@markham8741 Granted, Corbyn ran a bad campaign but he would have won if he had stuck to his principles and backed Britain leaving the EU. He had made great progress in the 2017 election but 2019 was the Brexit election. Starmer is awful and no better example not winning but the other side losing. But look at his shadow cabinet for heaven's sake. The Tories are a load of chancers but look at Lammy, Raynor et al.

[@techtinkerin]

Yeah well after 14 years of Tory wrecking everything you're gonna have to

[@ToneActual]

Is this guy in love with him or something

[@circularisnotthis4316]

What a propagandist.

[@reallymakesyouthink]

This disgusting Tony Blair tribute act won't be PM.

[@justfantasic]

Don't be an opposition leader in Russia 😂😂😂

[@paulmatters2641]

Putting lip stick on a pig. Its dirty work but this hack will do it.

[@nolslifegren]

Apologist

[@user-cf3nw7rq2r]

Starmer cares about us and our children but he cares so little about Palestinian children being assassinated, about bombs being dropped on them, about ambulances and hospitals being targeted. I don’t think that quite adds up does it?

[@FranzBieberkopf]

He wants to be PM of the UK, not Palestine.

[@modenadue7690]

Keir Starmer sounds like the king of Swamp Castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who builds his first castle on a swamp of lies and broken leadership campaign pledges. He had better save the bricks for public housing, no?

[@therocketboost]

Keir Starmer the kid starver. Genocide supporter extraordinaire.

[@therocketboost]

@@CustardSpace It's called Gaza. Thousands of starving kids. And thousands of dead kids. You muppet.

[@sabtaingopinath9652]

​@@CustardSpaceexcuse me Britian helped create the state of Israel... British leaders were the ones who somehow absurdly and unilaterally promised land of Palestine to European Jews. Starmer the human rights lawyer went public and unequivocally said it is absolutely fine to starve the people of Gaza.... Starmer the human rights lawyer said it was absolutely fine if Israel cut off all water and electricity supply. That is disgusting and down right ignorant.

[@TheAArmstrong]

@@sabtaingopinath9652 and?? It was under British control. It was supposed to be a homeland for Palestinians and Jews. And Starmer never said that.

[@sabtaingopinath9652]

@@TheAArmstrong Britian had absolutely NO RIGHT as an occupier to promise that land to ANYONE. The Jews, Muslims and Christians were living absolutely fine and in harmony until the European Jews and their British sponsors showed up. You make no sense. Either from legal pov or a historical pov. Hence the carnage today.

[@sabtaingopinath9652]

@@TheAArmstrong Starmer DID say that... Its all over the Internet and everyone has seen it and taken notes. Keep Clutching at some more straws... Perhaps you may find atleast some success. Pathetic.

[@susiebrig4722]

Tom Baldwin is describing someone who does nothing, because he cannot do something. He cannot inspire people like Tony Benn, Tony Blair, Mo Mowlam, Clare Short and Jeremy Corbyn did. I'd still travel to hear Jeremy Corbyn speak.