FOR those enraged at growing evidence of “two-tier” Britain, the acquittal of Ricky Jones last week was just the latest depressing example.
Here was a Labour councillor being cleared of encouraging violent disorder despite calling for far-right protesters to have their throats slit.
Of all the unfortunate nicknames bestowed upon our Prime Minister, none has stuck quite so solidly as Two Tier Keir
PASir Keir needs to restore that uniquely British sense of fairness — or it could all end in tiers[/caption]
Reform and the Tories seized on the case as yet another blinding display of courtroom double standards.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wasted no time laying the travesty squarely at the feet of Sir Keir Starmer.
In a tweet viewed more than two million times, he said “as far as I can see, this Labour Government seems to be quite happy with two-tier justice”.
People are roused. In fact, they are bloody furious about what they perceive to be rampant ‘two-tierism’
Cue howls of anger from online liberals, who breathlessly crowed that not only was he disrespecting the decision of a jury, he was unfairly meting out blame to ministers.
“You ought to know this has nothing to do with them”, retorted the arch-Conservative wet Dominic Grieve. “That is the hallmark of a rabble rouser.”
Rank unfairness
But people are roused. In fact, they are bloody furious about what they perceive to be rampant “two-tierism”.
The refrain thundered into the political lexicon like a bullet train in the tinderbox aftermath of last year’s Southport riots.
In that sticky, angry summer, there was a feeling the clunking fist of the British state was being disproportionately brought down upon a certain kind of protester.
For a public that routinely watches paedophiles walk free, the case of Lucy Connolly — slung in the slammer for a disgraceful but quite clearly stupid tweet — became a lightning rod.
Even now, her 31-month jail sentence is the yardstick held up against some of the more mind-boggling outcomes from our judiciary.
You can argue the toss over how much blame ministers should shoulder for policing and court decisions.
We have an independent judiciary but it is of course Parliament that makes our laws and ministers who make the political weather.
Rightly or wrongly, Starmer is the man at the sharp end of the criticism.
And much more dangerously for him, allegations of two-tier standards have now stretched well beyond the orbit of crime and seeped into every cranny of public life.
It has become a byword for the rank unfairness voters see in modern day Britain.
Charges of two-tierism are so common I’d eat my notebook if it is not the 2025 Oxford word of the year.
For voters who feel they are being taken for a ride, they now see two-tierism everywhere they look
Of all the unfortunate nicknames bestowed upon our Prime Minister, none has stuck quite so solidly as Two Tier Keir.
For voters who feel they are being taken for a ride, they now see two-tierism everywhere they look.
Ordinary British families struggling to pay the rent watch in fury as undocumented illegal migrants waltz into hotels for free bed and board.
Law-abiding citizens paying full whack for council services and leisure activities read revelations in The Sun about small-boat migrants getting discounts.
Millions of workers setting their alarm clocks for crack of dawn see an ever-growing number of their countrymen and women signing on for welfare with zero requirements to look for work.
Taxpayers squeezed more than ever wonder where the improvement in public services is to show for it.
Passengers paying hefty Tube fares rattle with rage as guards turn a blind eye to entitled oiks bumping the barriers.
And just last week, we saw Birmingham council tear down St George flags from lamp-posts while turning a blind eye to Palestinian ones.
Two-tierism is more than just a buzzword — it captures the mood of a nation fed up with a system they increasingly feel is not on their side.
The PM’s political enemies are alive to just how damaging the Two Tier Keir narrative has become.
Consider how just last year those who brandished allegations of two-tierism were dismissed as cranks and nutjobs, whereas now these are mainstream complaints.
Even when Starmer was shoving Netflix show Adolescence down our throats, but neglected to watch a documentary about grooming gangs, he was accused of “two-tier telly”.
Taxpayers squeezed more than ever wonder where the improvement in public services is to show for it
How does Sir Keir neutralise these attacks and restore the faith of a nation that loves rules and loathes unfairness?
Winning the trust of voters always starts by showing them you get it.
Starmer will never himself use the T-word — a refrain adopted mainly by the political Right.
And it is unlikely this former lawyer will start openly criticising his old profession, although it is a good first step that he has pledged new legislation to stop dinghy-chasing lawyers weaponising European human-rights laws.
Kick up backside
Expect him to start wrapping himself up in the language of “fairness” over the next few months, though, as he tries to show he does in fact get it.
He tweeted yesterday: “I will do what it takes to uphold the law and ensure fairness for the British people.
“If someone doesn’t have the right to be in this country, we won’t allow them to stay.”
Which is all well and good, but the rhetoric has to be matched by results.
Whitehall departments have been given a kick up the backside to deliver positive stories about this Government to sell.
At a recent summer bash, No10 chiefs told Cabinet aides that the Health, Treasury and Environment departments had churned out the most “top of the grid” stories — a pointed reminder to slackers to up their game.
Stopping the boats, closing hotels, driving living standards, going after genuine criminals and getting more people into work — voters don’t ask the world of their politicians, they just want the basics done right so they can get on in life.
Sir Keir needs to restore that uniquely British sense of fairness — or it could all end in tiers.
NEVER wrestle with a pig – you both get dirty but the pig likes it.
I fear Sir Keir Starmer’s latest mud-slinging campaign against Nigel Farage could see him end up on the wrong end of that old political slogan.
GettyNigel Farage has been on the end of a mud-slinging campaign by Starmer[/caption]
New Labour attack ads claim the Reform leader “wants to make it easier to share revenge porn online” and would “put women and girls at risk”.
Another one attempts to portray him as best mates with social media misogynist Andrew Tate.
It all comes shortly after ministers lampooned Farage, right, as “on the side” of modern day Jimmy Saviles.
Politics can be a dirty business and sometimes it pays dividends to go below the belt.
But if the gloves are off, the PM should not be surprised if he now gets hit back twice as hard.
And Reform are hardly the sort who will pull their punches. I suspect the real reason Labour has ratcheted up the criticism is that nothing else is sticking to Teflon Nige, or knocking him off his perch atop the polls.
A No10 insider recently told me their attempts to undermine the costs of Farage’s policies were futile.
They said: “We are so far out from a general election that nobody cares about whether the sums add up. It’s all vibes.”
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