Sun contributor Keir Starmer pledges ‘Hillsborough Law’ ahead of Labour conference in Liverpool

Keir Starmer addressing 2022 Labour Party conference in Liverpool


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Sun writer and occasional Labour leader Keir Starmer has announced he will bring in a ‘Hillsborough law‘ if he gets into power. His announcement comes ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, a city renowned for its love of the Murdoch press. Not.

The Sun‘s reporting of the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster led to the newspaper being despised and boycotted in the city. Following the disaster, in which 96 people died, the Sun made false claims, including that fans pickpocketed the bodies of victims.

The Scum

Starmer, man of the people that he is, has written for the Sun since becoming Labour leader. This was after making a big deal of his refusal to do so during his leadership campaign:

This city has been wounded by the media… and I certainly will not be giving an interview to The Sun during the course of this campaign.

It would be reasonable to think his new pledge would go down well in the Land of the Scousers. Hillsborough remains a cultural touchstone in the city. The legislation Starmer is proposing would, in theory, help victims get justice in cases where the state is liable.

Tory boy?

But it’s not that simple. Certainly, Liverpool votes Labour. But many people in the city quite understandably feel that writing for the paper which disparaged the Hillsborough victims is beyond the pale.

And they aren’t afraid to say so. Some questioned the timing of the announcement, as it comes ahead of the party conference in Liverpool:

Others said Starmer was little better than a Tory himself:

One person tweeted the infamous Sun front page which still sticks in the minds of many Scousers:

Starmer faced criticism for allowing the Sun to come to the Labour party conference in 2021. Now, days after he tweeted about ‘introducing the Hillsborough Law’, the paper seems to once again have a presence at the conference in Liverpool. A stark change from 2016, when it was banned from the party conference.

Red City?

Many people in British politics operate according to huge assumptions about Liverpool. For example, it’s enduring socialist mythology. There may be atoms of truth in that view, but it’s a far more complex place than many understand.

One thing is true, though: the Sun, and those who write for it, will be given short thrift by a lot of local people. Their support shouldn’t be taken for granted. And woe betide Labour leaders who think they can flit back and forth between the Murdoch press and the city which detests it most of all.

Featured image via Guardian/ YouTube

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  • Show Comments

    1. What’s that smell? Onions! As in “Takes out onion”, perfect for generating crocodile tears!
      Personally I would prefer an “Orgreave Law” that restores all the workers’ rights that Thatcher took away! Or a “Wapping Law” that guarantees the right to strike, pucket and take solidarity action! And a law breaking up press monopolies, democratises the media, and kicks out despotic Aussie sheep-shaggers!

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      1. You bet. Any member of the working class who would see Starmer and his clique as anything other than a class enemy is deluding themselves. Everything Starmer says and does is calculated to please the corporations and the ruling class to prove his competence at becoming CEO of Neoliberal UK plc. Jeremy Corbyn, sadly, has proven himself a Labour party loyalist above all else, no matter how much it keeps kicking him in the head.

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    3. The Sun will always be vile scum to Hillsborough families and survivors. I was there and that will never change. But the fact is that it still has a massive readership 33 years later and as leader of the opposition I personally see that some level of engagement with it may be a necessary evil if Labour is to win power and remove the most right wing fucked up government in history.
      The Canary can see no difference between Starmer and Truss, but that’s just not sensible based on the facts and most would disagree.
      But we can agree the Sun is vile, lying right wing divisive scum.

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      1. No more vile, lying right wing divisive scum, than The SUN in Lambskin aka The Guardian or BlueKeef and his Starmerstruppen The NEO-Labour Party TORIES!
        The NEO-Labour Party TORIES robbed The PEOPLE of a UK Labour Party Government, CHOICE & HOPE, and KILLED The UK Labour Party (RIP 13 December 2019), there is no worse betrayal than that.
        As long as that DEAD thing, that once was the UK Labour Party, Wriggles & Squirms, with the Parasite Party inside it (The NEO-Labour Party TORIES), Sabotaging and Couping ALL attempts of a Party FOR The PEOPLE, will there only be a Thatcher/Reagan flavour of Globalist Neoliberal One Party State!
        In order for The PEOPLE to regain CHOICE, the more Dangerous Party of the One Party State must be completely destroyed, and as fucked up as Truss’s Conservative TORY Party may be, and as evidenced by AJ that is by far BlueKeef’s NEO-Labour TORY Party!
        The PEOPLE can not move forward with the Sabotaging, Propagandist Corruption of the Parasite Party, The NEO-Labour Party TORIES. The PEOPLE can’t move forward without CHOICE!
        The Conservative Party TORIES
        or
        The NEO-Labour Party TORIES!
        Is NO CHOICE!
        A Party that actively removes Socialists, Ethnic Minorities, “The UNDESERVING POOR” aka the poor, the unemployed, the old, the sick, the disabled, pacifists, immigrants and minorities. Ref Deborah “working for FREE” Mattinson, Director of Strategies for the Office of BlueKeef, involved in removing the UNDESERVING POOR since Kinnock’s days! Designer of the UK version of Clinton’s Thatcher/Reagan flavour of Globalist Neoliberal One Party State!
        Here is what Tony Benn said after one of her meetings:
        “Tony Benn was particularly alarmed by the meeting: ‘Labour was associated with the poor, the unemployed, the old, the sick, the disabled, pacifists, immigrants, minorities and the unions, and this was deeply worrying’. Benn was further troubled by what he saw as the proposed remedy of Thatcher style leadership: ‘I came out feeling physically sick; I’m not kidding | felt unwell, because if this is what the Labour Party is about I’ve got nothing whatever in common with it. Signficantly alternative understandings or contradictory findings from the research data were invariably ‘filtered’ out of discussions.
        (Benn, 1992, 442; Shaw, 1994, 63)”
        You are right Shakelands, That NEO-Labour TORY Party of Heir BlueKeef is NOWHERE NEARLY the same as Truss’s Conservative TORY Party! It is by FAR WORSE & MORE DANGEROUS! That is before we even mention their Nancy Astor drooling, anti-Imigratíon, anti-People on Benefits, anti-People out of Work, anti-Right to Protest, anti-FOI, anti-FOS, pro-War, far right style Flag Shagging just to mention a few!
        We “UNDESERVING POOR” may as well suffer the evil we know than the evil we DON’T!
        We “UNDESERVING POOR” may as well suffer the evil we know and have a remote chance of ending up with a Party FOR The PEOPLE by The PEOPLE and with not ONE SINGLE Establishment Serf in sight, NOT ONE SINGLE Propagandist or Saboteur in sight, NOT ONE!
        You can keep your BlueKeef, you can keep your NEO-Labour Party TORIES, and you can keep your Unions now infested, with your Neoliberalism!
        Unlike the BLiar era, The PEOPLE are not sticking their heads back in the sand! You Right Wingers hate that, how dear we have an opinion!? We should just shut up and vote as YOU say, well surprise! We Ain’t! We are worthy and we are the MANY, by far!

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      1. “so we can see what it looks like?”
        I am afraid you will have to wait quite some time to “see” what that looks like.
        As we’ve seen with plenty enough evidence how the Thatcher Reagan flavour of Globalist Neoliberal One Party State opperated to prevent something that was moving towards a Government FOR The PEOPLE, with the ferocious incessant internal attacks from The NEO-Labour TORY Party, the MSM, etc, from that the lesson can be learnt that the change required, is far bigger than local government level!
        Another ie. South-America, USA took their eye off the ball with their Ukraine and Taiwan shenanigans and look what happened, Socialism returned one by one, trade returned, investment interest returned. As long as “The West” or Old World Order are in control of most importantly the UN, ICC, WTO, WHO, etc, etc, with Sabotaging by Corruption, Greed, Sanctions, Warmongering, etc, will their never be a place on earth who will be allowed to put The PEOPLE First!
        For me personally something nearest to resemling ideal would be a cannibalising of Cuba and Portugal. That however is only going to happen once BRICS created The New World Order, to overthrow The Old World Order and fairness returns to the international community and market.

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      1. Most of what is wrong with Cuba, as with South America, is not what is wrong with Cuba or South America, but what is wrong with the White West Old World Order.
        However as I said there are no places governed by trust worthy or admirable people. If one could knock up a canabalising of the parts that do work of Cuba and Portugal, ie remove Portugal’s NATO shagging, etc and that would come close to something worthy of respect.
        There is dictatorship, and there is attempting to maintain civility for the disasters caused by American Sabotage and Propaganda, it is a very fine line. One I am sure we will see crossed accross the White West in coming years.There are already signs of Sabotage in the USA with Capital Hill and talk of Civil War, will that be Dictatorships if Government reacts with military fire to bring back control?
        Nations are no longer afraid to stand square in the face of the White West Old World Order and their once scarry big guns.
        Nations have figured out that small guns can pack bigger punches and learnt the language and action of the best of the Saboteurs and Propagandists.
        A Lawless World Mafioso Run White West Old World Order and 7.8 bil. desperate and angry humans, interesting times ahead indead.

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