Labour’s deadly new austerity is not “boring” – but James O’Brien wants you to think that

LBC host James O’Brien is the perfect poster-boy for the liberal corporate media anti-Tory austerity-to-red-Tory austerity pipeline. He’s also a cautionary tale in centrist commentator goes bootlicking for the Labour Party establishment.

There must be something genuinely rose-tinting about speeches in that famous prime ministerial garden to liberal types. Because, fresh out of Starmer’s callous austerity-riddled speech, and O’Brien has backed the red is the new blue prime minister’s “tough choices” bullshit.

LBC’s James O’Brien makes blunder over “boring” austerity

In one fell swoop, James O’Brien dismissed the fears of everyone Starmer had thrown under the bus in his speech. Granted, he wasn’t fangirling after Starmer as if the prime minister was dropping Oasis’s new hit single for our post-Tory broken Britain times, but he may as well have been. Ostensibly, what O’Brien said was just as out of touch:

‘That was a boring speech, by a boring man, dealing with the boring business of getting Britain back on its feet…’

‘…and if you don’t like that, you don’t like Britain’, says @mrjamesob after Keir Starmer says he’ll bring back trust in politics. pic.twitter.com/mDiu3ZbPvF

— LBC (@LBC) August 27, 2024

It would go something like this:

🎵Thiiiiings.. will only get shitter
Before they get better 🎵
And if you don’t agree you actually hate Britaaain 🎵

Not sure I’m feeling this centrist remix https://t.co/DOklmL8jz2

— Soweto Kinch (@sowetokinch) August 28, 2024

As it happened though, thankfully, there were no nauseating Oasis reunion quips. Though it wasn’t without Sky News trying:

“You spent a lot of time today ‘Looking Back in Anger’ – but are you happy that Oasis have decided to reform on your watch?”

PM Sir Keir Starmer comments on the band Oasis making a comeback.

➡️ https://t.co/rqox6RoNfI

📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/f1eqQ595Lj

— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 27, 2024

Fortunately, we didn’t get Starmer making any tone-deaf “man of the people” blunders after his disgraceful speech. Perhaps the media laying into him for his staggering hypocrisy after his frivalous freebies as he cut the winter fuel payment to pensioners and laid the groundwork for more brutal public sector cuts, got to him. LBC’s James O’Brien on the other hand didn’t have a shred of self-awareness. Starmer announcing more of the Tory’s brutal murderous austerity? People on X pointed out that “boring” wouldn’t be the word they’d use for it:

The speech to me was terrifying and not boring. If you’re bored by the prospect of 10 more years of austerity, you’re incredibly privileged so. https://t.co/1l4zrrhLr3

— Chłoddy (@OfSymbols) August 27, 2024

It is only possible to dismiss the prime minister’s promise of “short-term pain” for the country as “boring” if you are positive that you are rich enough not to feel any of that pain. https://t.co/DZq1sAS9on

— Karl Hansen (@karl_fh) August 27, 2024

This is so obscene.

Keir Starmer will defend multimillionaires & billionaires whilst cutting public spending and saying he’s making tough choices whilst fueling anti migrant rhetoric & complicity in war crimes.

Nothing to do with being bored. Ridiculous. https://t.co/MVndaboSRY

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) August 27, 2024

If you hate Starmer’s speech, you hate Britain?

Of course, while branding Starmer and his speech “boring”, James O’Brien couldn’t help but lay into those lambasting Labour too.

Specifically, he implied that anyone not supporting Starmer’s swathe of austerity policies are essentially unpatriotic.

Ultimately though, what O’Brien was really saying was, if you don’t like Starmerite austerity, suck it up. Of course, this means anyone who opposes scrapping the winter fuel payment for millions of pensions, or those who want Labour to ditch the cruel two-child limit on benefits:

The “wisdom” of James O’Brien:

If you criticise Starmer, you hate Britain.

If you oppose austerity, you hate Britain.

If you want to feed hungry children, you hate Britain.

If you want to stop pensioners freezing to death, you hate Britain.

O’Brien is Farage for “centrists”. https://t.co/gG7vHlXKIt

— Frank Owen’s Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) August 27, 2024

Novara Media’s Rivkah Brown underscored that O’Brien was being a good little establishment stooge punching down on oppressed communities fighting for more:

The hatred these people have for anyone so audacious as to want more for themselves than to scrape together a measly existence until they die is off the charts, isn’t it. Their new line is that hope is unpatriotic. https://t.co/aeYVSxwDA5

— Rivkah Brown (@rivkahbrown) August 27, 2024

In other words, shut up and be grateful we don’t have the Tories. Except, Starmer’s speech proved again how he practically is a Tory:

Keir Starmer is serving up the same hideous economic crap which wrecked this country.

Don’t be conned by “misery now for gain later”.

George Osborne said this. The Tory Brexiteers said this.

It’s the same speech rehashed 👇https://t.co/WvN4Eu4LmX pic.twitter.com/77WonxMMuL

— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) August 27, 2024

Boring is the new buffoon

Overall, James O’Brien’s spiel spelled out what we can likely now expect from the shill liberal corporate media.

During the election debates, one audience member told Starmer he was more of a “political robot” than a person. Now, it seems Labour’s liberal media lackeys are playing into this. However, the thing about “boring” is, that it’s a convenient smokescreen for cruel, continuity Tory austerity politics:

English liberal centrism is a cult of boredom designed to usher fascism in the most banal way possible. https://t.co/fcA6kZIL6m

— M O X (@EdwardBarton) August 28, 2024

Ostensibly, this image shields Starmer from legitimate criticisms:

Big fan of how Starmer’s supporters keep having to call him boring in order to deflect from much more pertinent criticisms https://t.co/H11FJtN2y5

— TheIainDuncanSmiths (@TheIDSmiths) August 27, 2024

It’s Boris Johnson’s slick buffooning clown branding, with a stale Starmerite twist. They’re peddling a bog-standard Starmer bore, doing ‘grown-up’ politics now he governs the country.

Of course, this is the big liberal con, with a Conservative capital ‘C’. When it comes down to it, Labour is simply using its economic black-hole to cry “tough choices” and throw marginalised communities to the City wolves of Westminster. Liberal broadcasters like LBC are simply helping them launder this perception to the public, in much the same way the right-wing press did for the Tories:

The billionaire newspapers cheered on austerity under the Tories and spent years legitimising George Osborne’s bullshit. Now the liberal broadcasters are cheering on austerity under Labour. They all agree, but play this red team-blue team game to give the illusion of choice. https://t.co/shxm1ZkkJX

— Ross McNally (@RossMcNally_) August 27, 2024

James O’Brien: blaming everyone but the new government

And it seems this is exactly the image Starmer is aiming for too. Stood in the Rose Garden, the government’s new three-word political slogan was emblazoned across his podium. Stand aside “Change”, because now it’s time for “Fixing the Foundations.”

Naturally, it’s also a not-so subtle swipe at the Tories after 14 years of wrecking the UK. Largely though, it paves the way for precisely more of the same austerity politics that did this in the first place.

To Labour media lapdogs like James O’Brien, people couldn’t possibly dislike Starmer because of his politics. It all goes to show how superficial centrist media commentators like O’Brien are. Ultimately, his privileged take on Starmer’s Osbourne throwback proves how little he cares for the people these cruel policies will harm.

The Tories and its right-wing client media killed hundreds of thousands of people. Now, Labour and its liberal media are gearing up to do the same – with suck-ups like O’Brien leading the charge.

Feature image via the Canary