It’s fair to say the reset speech didn’t quite do the trick. As the number of Labour MPs calling on the Prime Minister to step down steadily grows and ministerial bag carriers begin to throw in the towel, it is becoming increasingly clear to everyone that Starmer is on borrowed time.
Starmer looks determined to stay until forcibly dislodged, like a mutant Beadlet anemone. Indeed, as a red, jelly-like blob that sticks stubbornly in place, he may even find the comparison flattering
He has only himself to blame. Before yesterday’s make-or-break address, Starmer did have an opportunity to rescue things – or at least to buy himself a significant period of reprieve. Lots of Labour MPs were waiting to see what he came up with in his big speech. But when it came it was remarkable only for its utter vacuousness and delusions. Starmer appears convinced that he is some sort of misunderstood genius, forced from the Serious Business of governing to give the people a taste of his personality. So he told us, ‘analysis matters, but argument matters more. Evidence matters, but so, too, does emotion. Stories beat spreadsheets’. He genuinely seems to think the only reason his premiership is in freefall is because he hasn’t spent enough time spinning. This is what happens when you take your political advice from Alastair Campbell.
But what most struck me about Starmer’s speech and his shtick of recent days has been his attempt to convince everyone that that he is really doing us all a favour by clinging on in No. 10. Starmer looks determined to stay until forcibly dislodged, like a mutant Beadlet anemone. Indeed, as a red, jelly-like blob that sticks stubbornly in place, he may even find the comparison flattering.
It is worth considering the sheer hypocrisy of Starmer’s argument here. In his speech he was at pains to emphasise that standing down would be irresponsible – ‘I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did, time and again, chaos, but did lasting damage to this country. A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.’
But of course it was Starmer who was more insistent than anyone in urging Tory prime ministers to resign. At PMQs in January 2022, he said to Boris: ‘The only question is: will the British public kick him out, will his party kick him out or will he do the decent thing and resign?’ Nor was Sunak left unscathed by our insistent Prime Minister. In April 2022, after they were issued with the Partygate fixed-penalty notices, Starmer said both Boris and Sunak should go. Nor is it only prime ministers and chancellors that Starmer urged to fall on their sword – as both Nicola Sturgeon and Suella Braverman can attest.
One would think that both a PM and chancellor leaving post in the middle of a global pandemic might cause more ‘chaos’ than a patently ineffective Starmer stepping down in line with the wishes of over 80 of his own MPs. But our Prime Minister’s antenna for rank hypocrisy is as skewed as his feel for the mood of the country.
I do believe the level of churn we’ve seen over recent years is becoming farcical. The UK being on course to get its sixth Prime Minister in seven years cannot be healthy for the country. I am also full of foreboding for what may be to come under a Rayner, Streeting, Burnham or Miliband administration. They are likely to further spook the markets as they rediscover the magic money tree. But Starmer can hardly claim to be keeping the chaos at bay. As reported by the Guardian, the cost of government borrowing yesterday crept higher as Starmer’s speech failed to dispel bond markets ‘jitters’. The yield on 30-year gilts rose 9.3 basis points to 5.67 per cent, edging closer to the 28-year high of 5.78 per cent reached last week. Both ten and 30 year gilt yields are higher now than they were during the height of the market panic after Truss’s mini Budget.
It’s curtains for Starmer. If not this week, then soon. Everyone can see it except him and an ever-diminishing band of sheeple on the ministerial payroll, who presumably need the money. Changing prime ministers this often is ridiculous. But, as so often, it’s a ridiculous situation of Starmer’s own making.
