Mike's Minute: Labour need to follow the Keir Starmer blueprint

If the New Zealand Labour Party wants to get real about re-election, they should look no further than the UK Labour Party. 

Keir Starmer blew up the NHS on Friday because he said it doesn't work. He says the bloating of the numbers has not improved anything. 

Jobs will be lost. 

Before he blew up the NHS, he attacked the welfare system. He called it unjust and unfair because, essentially, there are too many people sitting on welfare doing nothing and there is no incentive for them to change their habits. 

Remember, this is a British Labour Prime Minister. 

We are also expecting the chancellor to slash more spending. Why? Because they don’t have any money. 

If only a Hipkins or an Ardern or a Robertson were anything close to this. 

What was close to this was Roger Douglas, David Lange, David Caygill, and Mike Moore - the proper Labour Party. The Labour Party many recognise as being a middle-of-the-road centrist-type party that a lot of New Zealanders could recognise. 

If what Starmer is up to works, he is Tony Blair 2.0, and the lesson Blair taught us is the same thing Bob Hawke taught us in Australia – a Labour movement doesn’t have to be about wokeness and largesse and economic ineptitude. 

It needs to be about common sense and the worker. Not a hardcore unionist, but a middle class New Zealander who gets up, makes their kid's lunches, heads to work and comes home late, a bit tired and ready for a beer and a BBQ at the weekend, living in their own home in suburbia with a belief that life is pretty good, New Zealand is pretty good and the future is moderately bright. 

None of that is hard. But I bet you it's completely foreign to most of the current Labour lot who butchered the place between 2017-2023. 

The old adage around votes and political support about the centre being large and the place to get a lot of votes, is real. 

We wouldn’t mind some wider representation. National or Labour can occupy the centre. History shows it's possible and it's successful. 

Hipkins needs to study Starmer and learn. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
To tell you what. If the New Zealand Labour Party
want to get real about re election, they should look
no further than the UK Labour Party. So key is
Starmer blew up the NHS on Friday. It doesn't work.
He said, the bloating of the numbers has not improved anything.
He said jobs will be lost. Now. Before he blew

(00:20):
up the NHS, he attacked the welfare system. He called
it unjust and unfair. Essentially, there are far too many
people sitting on welfare doing nothing and there's no incentive
for them to change their habits. Remember this is a
British Labour Prime minister. We're also expecting the Chancellor to
slash more spending. Why because they don't have any money.
Oh if only Hipkins or an Adoern or a Robertson
were anything close to this. What was close to this,

(00:41):
by the way, was Roger Douglas, David Longey, Richard Prebble,
David Kagel and Mike Moore. The proper Labour Party, the
Labour Party many recognized as being the middle of the road,
centrist type party that a lot of New Zealanders could recognize.
If what Starmer is up to works, He's Blair two
point zero and the lesson Blair taught us is the
same lesson that Bob Hawk taught us. In Australia, a
labor movement doesn't have to be about wokeness and largess

(01:03):
and economic ineptitude. It needs to be about common sense
the worker, and the worker, by the way, is not
a hardcore unionist, but a middle class New Zealander who
gets up, makes their kids, lunches, heads to work, comes
home a little bit late, bit tired, ready for a
barbecue and a beer at the weekend, living in their
own home in suburbia, with a belief that life is
pretty good. New Zealand is pretty good and the future
is moderately bright. None of that is hard but a betch.

(01:25):
It's completely foreign to most of the current labour lot,
who butchered the place between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty three.
The old adage around votes and political support, about the
center being large and a place to get a lot
of success is real and we wouldn't mind some wider
representation to be national or Labour can occupy the center.
History shows it's possible and it's successful. Hipkins needs to

(01:47):
study Starmer and learn. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast,
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