[IsraelTimes] Catherine West says cabinet must work out plan to replace the prime minister or she’ll make a leadership bid herself, and warns others may do the same
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reeling from a crushing local election defeat, faced a new setback to his leadership on Saturday when a former minister said she would challenge him for the top job if no one else stepped forward.
Starmer’s Labour Party recorded the worst losses of a governing party in municipal polls since 1995, prompting a growing number of his own politicians to call on him to quit.
To try to shore up his position in the party earlier on Saturday, he named two influential Labour grandees as advisers, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown ... the gormless former British PM ... and former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman.
But just hours later, Labour politicianCatherine West, a former minister, told BBC Radio that she wanted the cabinet to work out a plan to replace Starmer by Monday, or she would challenge him for the position herself.
"If...there are no leadership hopefuls who come forward tomorrow, then Monday morning I will put my name forward to stand for the Leader of the Labour Party," she said.
LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE WOULD NOT BE STRAIGHTFORWARD
As the extent of the defeat emerged, more than 20 politicians publicly and privately called on Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure. Asked whether he would stand down he told British media that was not the right thing to do.
"I’m not going to walk away from this," he said earlier on Saturday.
A number of Cabinet ministers said on Friday that they continued to support Starmer, who just under two years ago led Labour to a landslide national election victory, and an immediate challenge from the potential leadership rivals does not look straightforward.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham does not have the seat in parliament he needs to mount a challenge, and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has yet to fully resolve the tax issues that prompted her resignation from office last year.
Wes Streeting, currently health minister, is, like Starmer, tainted by the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britannia’s ambassador to the United States. Streeting was close to Mandelson, who was sacked over his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Want Some Candy, Little Girl? Epstein ...A high class pimp financier who was alleged to maintain a stable of underage whoressex slaves who were paid big bucks to entertain the rich and/or famous. He was really surprised when he commited suiciede in jail... 'I will put my name forward to stand for the leader of the Labour party'
Any candidate wishing to make a challenge would need to secure the public support of 20% of Labour members of parliament. With Labour currently holding 403 seats, that equates to 81 backers.
West said she had 10 names behind her so far but her preferred option was that another candidate put themselves forward.
"I think there are several people who would like to do it who have been planning for months," she said.
CALLING IN THE OLD GUARD AS PRESSURE MOUNTS
Aiming to reset his leadership and win back party support, Starmer’s office announced Brown, 75, and Harman, also 75, would join his team.
"They’re vital to how we strengthen our country and take it forward and provide the opportunities that give people that hope for a better future," he said when asked whether figures from the past could help with his plan for the future to improve people’s lives.
Brown will seek to drive new defense and security investment and hone relations with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , to try to boost economic performance and win back votes, while Harman will focus on tackling misogyny and violence against women and girls, creating economic opportunities.
🚨 More than 100 Labour councillors and former candidates have signed an open letter demanding that Sir Keir Starmer set out a timetable for an “orderly transition” of power
🔴 Catherine West may not be well known outside Westminster, but her name is causing Sir Keir Starmer a serious headache.
The Labour MP said that she would attempt to trigger a leadership contest to force the Prime Minister to resign if no Cabinet ministers were to put… pic.twitter.com/AGNyji3Q8i
[ConservativeWoman] THE Henry Jackson Society is one of today’s more worthy British institutions, defending as it does liberal democracy and what it terms ‘real’ human rights. It’s no surprise then that one of HSJ’s latest studies focuses on ‘Forecasting the Muslim Sectarian Wave’. It’s particularly topical as the nation heads to the polling booths today. Or not, in too many cases.
The study is by HSJ’s resident expert in all things Islam, Emma Schubart. It’s a data-driven deep dive into England’s 2024 local election results and is sub-titled ‘Ward-Level Predictors of Electoral Success’. It abounds with explanations, extrapolations and algebraic formulae, but ultimately and hugely unexpectedly (not) it arrives at a few basic and predictable conclusions. They are:
1) The bigger the local ward population of Muslims, the higher likelihood of electing a ‘sectarian Muslim candidate’;
2) The voter turnout from within Muslim communities is significantly higher than other faith/cultural identity groups;
3) As with the previous two categories, the proportion of Muslims aged under 30 who exercise their franchise puts what we might call indigenous voting groups to shame;
4) Outcome? In appealing to their voter base, fixing potholes or arguing for a new playground comes a distant second to supporting causes in Gaza or Kashmir which, frankly, a local councillor doesn’t have much impact on.
Her finding somewhat pales when measured against a breaking poll of British Muslim voters showing 60 per cent of them would back a pro-Palestine Independent in order to oust a Labour candidate.
Ms Schubart’s work is admirably detailed and forensically calculated in terms of identifying what constitutes a Sectarian Muslim, and it’s not all about the good old chants of Allahu Akbar. For instance Green Party leader Zack Polanski would qualify for the label, but former Conservative Home Secretary Sajid Javid wouldn’t.
In finishing the report however I couldn’t help but wonder how much time and money was spent studying all the results from 1,902 local authority wards, of which only 66 met the author’s criteria, when the most important, almost throwaway line, resides at the very end of the paper. The attitudes of Muslim under 30s ‘appears to align with a broader “radicalisation of youth” concern already identified by . . . security and counter-terrorism’.
Really? It’s more than a decade since Dewsbury teens Talha Asmal and Hassan Munshi joined ISIS, Asmal blowing himself up in Iraq. Munshi, whose elder brother Hammad was convicted of terror offences a decade earlier, is presumably back home where their eminent grandfather Sheikh Yakub Munshi ran the Sharia court and was President of the Islamic Research Institute of Gt Britain. I can’t help thinking Ms Schubart might have been better advised to explore why the well-funded Prevent programme rarely gets a public mention except when exposing its latest failures to protect our innocent citizens.
What’s more, her finding somewhat pales when measured against a breaking poll of British Muslim voters showing 60 per cent of them would back a pro-Palestine Independent in order to oust a Labour candidate.
Which is why Sir Kier’s new-old advisors will not help him fix the dilemma he drove the Labour Party into, and why none of those putting themselves forward to replace him will be able to fix it either, short of either surrendering to the Moslem contingent or sending most of the Moslems back to where they or their ancestors came from.
The Policy Exchange survey throws up quite a few eyebrow-raising attitudes that should, but probably won’t, be grave causes for concern. Unless of course you’re a pro-Hamas, violence-supporting, anti-Semitic opponent of free speech.
A clear signal from those 2024 elections was the sharpest of red flags for anyone interested in the street-level Muslim mood swing. Schubart identifies four specific areas where the numbers stood out, viz Blackburn, Bradford, Bristol and Kirklees, the latter being my home patch, specifically the intensely Muslim districts around north Kirklees – Dewsbury, Batley and Heckmondwike – where a Labour Party that would sweep the General Election two months later was dumped on its backside by the new generation of ‘Independents’ in May’s local poll.
Independent from whom, I could only wonder, as the newly formed Dewsbury and Batley Parliamentary seat witnessed the enthronement of political newcomer Iqbal Mohamed, an Independent whose focus on Palestine and building a new international airport in Mirpur clearly enchanted 41 per cent of the locals who bothered to turn out.
Understanding how the Muslim vote works on the ground might have informed Ms Schubart’s readers better, I felt, than stating the bleedin’ obvious. It is all about the demographic, yes, but not on a strictly or simply Muslim basis. And it works differently in a local poll to a national one. In bidding for council seats, it’s very tribal and competitive and for more than 30 years has been a traditional tri-party combat. That’s changing rapidly. But for a General Election? That’s when the diktat from on high holds sway and those erstwhile rivals gather under the one flag.
The Dewsbury West ward, home to the poorer Pakistani-heritage locals, for 30 years hopped back and forth between Lib Dems and Labour. Dewsbury South, the redoubt of the wealthier, more influential Gujarati Muslim community, was entirely Conservative for years until a presumed decree from above delivered vote swings of up to 100 per cent and Labour took over.
As of today? Three of the four Muslim councillors – elected on a Labour ticket, one the recent Mayor – now sit as Independents. The two remaining Labour members will be fearing today’s outcome, unlike over in Batley where the five Muslim Independents will likely prevail, a long-serving white Labour councillor counting down her final hours as an elected member.
These are the cataclysmic changes that signal the rising of Islam as a political force in its own right. For now the Greens may be weaponised as the useful idiots their temporary Muslim benefactors see them as, but only until the numbers game sways, as it inexorably will. It’s a numbers game that experts might be better casting forward, than poring over an already much-changed recent past.
BUT perfectly embodies what I expect Dem shrews to look like. Think an evil, twisted Hilarity (might have misspelled).
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/10/2026 7:32 Comments ||
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#2
I thought that was Bono in drag
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/10/2026 7:48 Comments ||
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#3
Starmer is like Trudeau. He has to try to stay in power to keep a lid on all the corruption that he facilitated. When he leaves, he will manipulate the system to leave someone like Carney to implement his same agenda.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/10/2026 8:31 Comments ||
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#4
I could have gone the rest of my life without putting a face with the name.
Posted by: chris ||
05/10/2026 8:51 Comments ||
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#6
#2 #4 And that is her "official portrait" taken in 2017.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/10/2026 10:00 Comments ||
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#7
^ that is the image used on the wikipedia article on her
also, she is a duel citizen -Australia/UK
also a member of the Fabian Society
59 years old
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
05/10/2026 14:24 Comments ||
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#8
Her hair is disheveled, her dress is rumpled and she wears no makeup. I kinda makes you wonder when was the last time she bathed. Unkempt might be the best word for her. I bet the inside of her house is pretty much the same, just like the inside of her head. Yeah, if she lived in America, she'd be a Democrat.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
05/10/2026 19:47 Comments ||
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#9
Born in Australia, and we may be grateful for her leaving. I looked up her home town - Mansfield, Victoria, and there is a business there called Wild Wombat. Coincidence? I think not.
So was playwright George Bernard Shaw, who strongly approved of the Nazi Final Solution as a necessary next step in the evolution of society toward full socialism.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Joe Biden's attorneys have been accused of trying to prevent the release of tapes which would allegedly show he revealed classified information to his ghostwriter, a conservative watchdog has claimed in court filings.
According to The Heritage Foundation, Biden's counsel have dragged their feet in the legal matter, with one of his attorneys saying her lack of response to the opposing side was because 'she had lost her voice and thus could not speak.'
The Department of Justice has threatened to release tapes that the watchdog claims will show that Biden told his ghostwriter top-secret information, the filing says.
There are allegedly tapes and written transcripts of Biden that had previously been withheld by ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer for the president's two memoirs, 'Promises to Keep' and 'Promise Me, Dad,' joint plaintiff Mike Howell claimed.
[Blaze via Bongino] Now, a new bill proposed by Democrat Rep. Josh Gottheimer (N.J.) would require operating system developers — including Apple, Google, and Microsoft — to verify the ages of their users when setting up a new device.
The bill is actually a Trojan horse for mass data collection.
THIS IS THE PARENTS DECIDE ACT
The new bill, unassumingly named the Parents Decide Act, includes several key requirements that all platform holders would have to recognize if the bill passes. These include:
Strict guidelines that state OS platform holders must verify the age of every user when they set up a new device. The bill is clear that it’s not enough to have users self-report their date of birth and age; hard-proof verification is required.
Custom content controls that let parents set age-appropriate parameters on their children’s devices. This includes the ability to limit access to social media, apps, and even AI platforms.
A pathway to ensure that all apps installed on a device are tuned to adhere to the custom controls in the previous point. No workarounds or exceptions will be allowed.
A trusted multi-platform standard that bans children from accessing what the government labels "harmful" or "explicit" content on any device made by any OEM on any software platform. On the surface, this can include adult content and conversations with AI chatbots, although "harmful" or "hateful" speech has taken on different meanings to the left over the years, usually to describe speech that doesn’t align with their views.
To be clear, the Parents Decide Act would require these protections to be built directly into the software of every device — it would become a core feature within iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. There are questions as to how the government would enforce the bill on open-source Linux, but it will certainly try.
Posted by: Mercutio ||
05/10/2026 08:16 ||
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Link ||
[1811 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Parents Decide Act
Continuing the Dem tradition of naming it something the proles want.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/10/2026 8:48 Comments ||
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I identify as black and according to Dems, I'm to stupid to get an ID!
Posted by: chris ||
05/10/2026 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
Creating an account for IRS.gov You’ll need an account with ID.me to sign in to access your tax information and use services on IRS.gov. Your ID.me account lets us verify your identity to protect your privacy and keep your data secure. You must be age 18 or older to create an account.
#4
^^^^ just another reason I won't be paying taxes.
Posted by: chris ||
05/10/2026 9:30 Comments ||
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#5
Most states require anyone driving to have a license (CA and other Donk states exempting illegals). That same lic# id used to validate a lot of existing id verification processes. Seems like providing a valid lic# would satisfy 90% of identification necessary without the creation of another government/commercial database.
#6
Demonrats really hard stupid, how many of them would wind up arrested for making threats online if this goes live? They only get away with that because it's hard to ID people. It'd turn out like body cameras for them.
#7
Apologies for the typo in the title. That should be "ID" not "Id". If it were Id, Big Brother would need a diaper change. The Id of most of the people here would scare the things that go bump in the night.
#9
EG. IF you want to purchase GA State lottery tickets, Cigs, & Beer.
The Marathon Gas station Grovetown GA (I-20 exit 190) requires customers to provide their ID. Which they then scan in to their database and keep a copy.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.