Depressingly, The Spectator Australia’s pre-election forecast of ‘looming disaster’ for Britain has already proved an understatement. It was a safe bet that the border chaos and Green fanaticism bequeathed by the Tories would get even worse under Labour. But we now also have the nightmare of the harnessing of the police and judicial system to a woke racial agenda. In opposition, Starmer sold himself as a moderate, wrapping himself in the flag and purging the anti-Semitic Corbynistas. His Wikipedia biography has suddenly overlooked his youthful Trotskyism. But it’s now clear we were seeing the real Starmer when he ‘took the knee’ to Black Lives Matter two days after one of their London riots injured 27 police.

No one would dispute that the government was right to crack down on those perpetrating and inciting the violence sparked by the Southport stabbing murders of three young girls. But whatever wide public goodwill Starmer initially enjoyed was quickly squandered by the crude racial bias of his crackdown – ‘two-tier Keir’ is a label he won’t live down. Under apparent pressure from the authorities to plead guilty, hundreds have been arrested and convicted to lengthy prison sentences within days, in more than a few cases for social media posts deemed ‘false communication’ or ‘likely to stir up hatred’.  By contrast, hesitation and silence shroud recent violence by minorities and ‘progressives’. Weeks after the Southport atrocity, there’s still no official explanation about what motivated this monstrous crime; there’s been no fast-track trial for two Muslims who assaulted police at Manchester Airport, seriously injuring a female officer, or for those bailed among 1,000 gypsies and Pakistanis who rioted in Leeds, or for a Labour councillor who called for the murder of ‘fascists’ to a cheering crowd. Further ‘two-tier’ perceptions have been encouraged after Starmer managed a visit to a mosque and meetings with Muslim ‘community leaders’, but not, despite two visits to Southport – and unlike the King – meetings with the grieving families of the murdered girls or with those who were injured.

The Tories also practised two-tier policing, notably their tolerance of anti-Semitic Islamists dominating London’s streets every week since 7 October.  But Labour has taken the indulgence further, with police beginning public addresses with greetings in Arabic and finding excuses for Muslim vigilantes carrying weapons. Another Starmer novelty is signalling that ‘far right’ offences are to be treated more seriously than crimes which are clearly more heinous. As thousands of prisoners are released early to make way for those convicted on riot-related charges, a judge has told a convicted child rapist he will be spared prison because of the overcrowding crisis.

In addition to endangering the public, Starmer is trampling over time-honoured democratic principles, including the independence of the judiciary. Astonishingly, he’s reported to have leant on the justice system to enforce swift punishment of the rioters. Meanwhile, the Home Office has described those arrested as ‘criminals’ who ‘will face the full force of the law’. So much for innocent until proven guilty. Starmer also has free speech firmly in his sights. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has signalled action to ban ‘legal but harmful’ speech. That could mean concerted efforts to ban ‘wrong’ views on immigration, Islamism, climate or transgender issues, not just on X but on other media it doesn’t like, such as the right-of-centre GB News.

Starmer doesn’t seem interested in why so many of the indigenous population in Labour’s traditional heartlands are full of anger. The obvious reason is mass, chaotic immigration combined with deprivation: since Tony Blair was elected in 1997, the UK population has increased by 9 million, largely a result of immigration. That compares with the nine centuries from 1066 to 1950 when about 250,000 immigrants arrived from outside the British Isles. The huge numbers have reduced wages and job opportunities for the natives and put massive pressure on housing, the health service and schools. It has transformed many areas beyond recognition, spawned terrorism and increased crime.  Benefits including hotel accommodation for the endless flow of illegal immigrants have caused widespread fury – as has the political establishment which has repeatedly promised and failed to slash immigration and to stop the boats.

Starmer is the latest prime minister who claims he wants to cut immigration. But it’s doubtful he’s really interested. Labour is full of pro-open borders types and its strategists think continued high third-world immigration suits its interests. The real strategy will probably be to wave through most asylum-seekers and to shut down discussion of the issue, vilifying those who question immigration as racists.

Similar extremism dictates Starmer’s Green policies. In addition to Labour’s mad ambitions to ‘de-carbonise’ the energy grid by 2030 and to strangle North Sea oil and gas, it’s obsessed with ‘re-establishing the UK as a global leader on the climate crisis’.  So, despite government claims of a £22 billion fiscal ‘black hole’, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband – who’s recruited an Extinction Rebellion activist as one of his senior advisors – has recommitted to Boris Johnson’s £11.6 billion ‘climate aid’ promise, which the Tories were planning to dump. The government is offering this largesse despite claiming it can’t afford the £1.4 billion needed to keep its promise to continue paying 10 million pensioners £200-£300 a year in energy bills assistance. It’s also broken promises to cut energy bills. Instead, already sky-high energy bills will rise a further 10 per cent in October. The public will then be further clobbered with the elimination of the VAT exemption for private school fees and probably increases in inheritance and capital gains tax – and maybe even a wealth tax.

Labour’s support according to one opinion poll plunged six points in the month after its election, with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK the main beneficiary – at 21 per cent, he’s one point ahead of the Tories and only 12 behind Labour. But with a 158-seat majority, a five-year term and no real opposition – other than Elon Musk – Starmer’s Labour government can do what it wants. That includes blatant cronyism and surrendering to outrageous union pay demands. Meanwhile few care who might take over the leadership of the useless Tories. Still, one of the few compensations possibly on the horizon is the huge entertainment of watching Starmer and his woke-left team flounder if they have to deal with a re-elected Trump – who understandably loathes them.