He’s at it again. Like those unscrupulous bosses he professes to despise, Sir Keir Starmer enjoys taking the credit when things go right – but is rather less keen to take the blame when things go wrong. A prime example of this was offered today in an interview today with ITV, when he was asked about Rishi Sunak’s PMQs jibe about his legal record and his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013. Sir Keir replied that:

If they want to attack me for decisions when I was Director of Public Prosecutions… we had 7,000 staff, we made nearly a million decisions a year. Will there be mistakes there? Of course, there will. But there’ll be no smoking gun, no skeletons in the closet.

That, er, is something of a shift from Starmer’s previous statements about his time running the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Back in 2020 when running for leader he boasted that:

Hear me out: I had 8,000 staff for five years as the Director of Public Prosecutions… When they made mistakes, I carried the can. I never turn on my staff and you should never turn on your staff. I will carry the can for mistakes of any organisation I lead.

And last April he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge simply that:

I take full responsibility for every decision of the Crown Prosecution Service when I was Director of Public Prosecutions.

Still, given Labour’s less-than-enthusiastic response to questions about Starmer’s record on Jimmy Savile and Andrew Malkinson, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised by the implication that CPS staff ought to carry the can – rather than their well-remunerated ex-Director.