The British Labour Party has disappointed the electorate at so many levels since coming to power. Expectations are low. The campaign slogan was about change. No-one went into a polling booth thinking voting Labour may mean a change for the worse. The pre- and post-election press briefings set Labour up for a fall. The early lines about short-term gain for long-term pain were ridiculously short sighted.
Having stormed to power on a tidal wave of hope, negative messaging wasn’t what the public wanted or needed to hear so soon. Government is about prose - but this one requires some poetry.
The first big policy framework included the targeting of pensioners through means testing the winter fuel allowance. This was never a good look. Trying to justify it only compounded the problem when there are much bigger corporate fish to fry. Labour has been on the back foot ever since.
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The time has come for Sir Keir Starmer to step up to the plate. More than any recent Labour leader he coveted the position of prime minister. This writer was/is an enthusiastic champion as I witnessed him work up close during our years at the NI Policing Board. He is intense, hard working, earnest and above all dedicated to public service. What he’s not is instinctively political. That won’t change because his route to the top of the Labour Party isn’t grounded in grassroots activism.
Sir Keir is more of a fast-track postgraduate entrant. In some ways that’s to be lauded, as having experience external to politics can be a good thing. Too many in the Westminster bubble are careerist test tube policy wonks and political staffers.
Some of the new intake of Labour MPs are of that ilk and need to spend the next two to three years bedding down in their constituencies, becoming a local household name and not concerning themselves with the grand affairs of state. The instinctive politicians get that.
Starmer needs to go further than condemnation of Musk. He needs to ban foreign and large corporate donations to UK political parties. If he doesn’t, he risks British democracy
Of course, that’s not how they see themselves. They are like contestants in a Miss Universe competition wanting to save the planet, build international peace and end world hunger. In the landscape of their minds, they are a cross between Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King.
Their voters are a tad more sceptical. To them they are more a mix of Francis Urquhart and Alan Beresford B’Bastard; somewhere between the self-regard and the external view lies the truth.
Starmer needs more voices Lisa Nandy, Angela Rayner, Louise Haigh and Jess Phillips.
He also needs to have more bite, more often. The PM skilfully demolished the shameless Kemi Badenoch’s opportunistic bandwagoning during the debate on grooming. He gave Elon Musk both barrels - and not before time. Musk is a menacing meddler. There’s nothing to be admired. His flirtation with Reform is dangerous.
Reform is nothing more than a private enterprise for the vehicle that is Nigel Farage. It’s not a normal political party. Its structures are neither democratic nor transparent. It’s a collection of city barrow boys, chancers, chameleons and opportunists with loud ties, Barbour jackets and jaunty types harking for a Britain which doesn’t exist (not that they are even interested much in the regions). It’s all about English nationalism. Think Boycie from Only Fools and Horses and the image sticks.
Farage is a very successful populist - his blokey, beer-swilling, hale and hearty character goes down well with the bar fly philosophers and armchair experts who get their facts from the Daily Express. He’s smart smart enough to know the ultra far-right Tommy Robinson is toxic to the Reform brand and the ambitions of Farage. Musk has cooled on Farage - it was a love affair doomed to end in tears for one of them.
Starmer needs to go further than condemnation of Musk. He needs to ban foreign and large corporate donations to UK political parties. If he doesn’t, he risks British democracy.
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