Brig’s accountability tracker is back! It’s a bit late but that’s entirely my fault, fortunately there is still a disgusting number of inconsistencies to keep up with! Enjoy.
Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak visited Israel in October to “express solidarity” with the state, telling Netanyahu: “We will stand with you in solidarity. We will stand with you and your people. And we also want you to win.”
Since then, Britain has been the only country to abstain from voting on the UN calling for a ceasefire in Gaza (with the US being the only country to veto the proposal, shooting it down) and so the Zionist cause of the Tory Party has continued.
His promise to stop “the small boats crisis” still isn’t working, with 730 people spotted crossing the Channel this month so far (I write this only on the 11th). His plan to crack down on the number of asylum seekers entering the country has reduced the number of people crossing the English Channel in comparison to last year. Nevertheless, thousands have made the life-threatening attempts already this year.
Sunak’s major focus at the moment is surviving the COVID Inquiry, so hopefully our analysis of him will be more in-depth following this. But so far we can say that his lack of effectiveness on his albeit immoral but also high-profile plan to “stop the boats” loses him some points. However, balanced with his consistency on the conflict in Palestine puts him at a 7/10 this month.
Kier Starmer
Kier Starmer has been up to his usual “Tory-in-disguise” antics, as he recently praised everyone in Scotland’s favourite person – none other than Mrs Maggie Thatcher herself.
Praise for the former Prime Minister came in the form of Starmer having “respect for her” as she had “a mission and a plan”. Aye Kier so does every bam about to go into an overcrowded and overpriced Christmas market this week but it doesn’t mean I’d bring them up when I’m trying to become the Prime Minister, especially when I know that my target audience has a bad history with them.
Praising Margret Thatcher when Labour’s plan to stand a chance at winning Downing Street is to win back the Red Wall seats that they lost may have been his most catastrophic move so far, but I doubt anyone who has paid attention to Starmer for the past four years will be surprised.
As well as this, his stance on Palestine has backtracked again. Last month he claimed that Israel has the right to withhold electricity from Gaza, then he backed a pause in fighting but not a ceasefire, and now a Labour spokesperson is saying that Labour “understands the call for a ceasefire”.
He gets a 1/10, because again, we’re all disappointed but not surprised.
Humza Yousaf
Humza Yousaf has progressed the idea of Scotland claiming its autonomy especially on a global stage. He met with the Turkish president at COP28 in Dubai, which he has been reprimanded for by David Cameron as he did this without the presence of a UK Foreign Office official and without the UK Government’s approval.
In terms of consistency, this perfectly matches up to what is expected of Yousaf, as he was similarly reprimanded for this in the past when he met with the Icelandic prime minister over the summer.
His attendance at COP28 as well as his discussions with young climate activists when attending reflects his past claim that he wants Scotland to provide some “moral leadership” in regards to the climate crisis, especially when it is compared to Sunak’s attendance at the conference.
This, along with his consistent calling on Israel to respect international law and recognition that it has not, makes him the winner of this month’s accountability tracker with a score of 10/10.
Featured Image Credit: Niamh Brooke
4th year Politics and Journalism student.
Secretary for Brig
The Herald Student Press Awards Columnist Of The Year 2024 (which sorry i’m still not over)
