Keir Starmer’s political project is over (Image: Gett)
Keir Starmer is a dreadful Prime Minister. We always knew he was going to be, but the truly astonishing thing is how quickly he allowed everyone who was previously on the fence to realise it too. Thursday’s pathetic concession to his hoard of ill-disciplined, unserious backbenchers on welfare reform marked the third, and most damning, U-turn of his first year in power.
First, we saw the spectacle of Labour MPs being marched up to the top of the hill on cutting winter fuel payments for some of the poorest in our society, then being marched back down again. Then we saw those increasingly paranoid troops being marched up the even rockier hill of a child rape gang inquiry, only to reach the summit and once again begrudgingly trudge back down the slope.
But make no mistake, Thursday’s capitulation on welfare cuts was the biggest humiliation of all. While cutting welfare may seem the most mundane of the three crimes, compared to letting pensioners freeze and allowing paedophile rapists to get off the hook, the planned reforms said much more about the sort of government Keir Starmer had hoped to lead.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer caves in to Labour welfare rebels with ‘£3bn’ of concessions
Keir Starmer is in office but not in power (Image: Getty)
One that wasn’t just willing to make unpopular decisions for the short term, but one willing to – in his words – “fix the foundations” and put Britain on a more stable footing for years and decades to come.
The original proposals were only going to cut £5billion from a welfare bill set to swell by £30billion come the end of the decade. This was already a sign that Keir Starmer had given up on any meaningful reform of the British state that might just prevent the roof caving in.
However, these savings have now been reduced to about half of that – not only a completely meaningless saving in the long run, but leaving Rachel Reeves with yet another avoidable black hole, almost certainly set to be filled with more tax rises.
Once again, Britain has bailed out the takers, while the makers – struggling to keep their heads above water – will be squeezed even more.
There’s no bravery here, no vision, no meaningful change to Britain’s predicaments. Most importantly for Starmer, there is no legacy.
He needed one thing above all else – economic growth. Rachel Reeves has already smothered that out of the economy, but the £4.25billion of U-turns in recent weeks mean extra taxes will kill off her chances for good. This means no growth, no money, no investment, no turning Britain around.
To quote Monty Python, this is an ex-Government (Image: BBC)
I was on Jeremy Vine’s show on Thursday with a Labour MP, who argued this rebellion had come about because her party is a “broad church”. I pointed out that the problem is we don’t know – and never have known – whether the vicar actually believes in God.
We saw so many Keir Starmers between his election as Labour leader and the election a year ago. There was apologetic Starmer, anti-Corbyn Starmer, pro-Israel Starmer, Brexity Starmer, Remainery Starmer, high-tax and high-spend Starmer, fiscally responsible Starmer. Each one of them as dishonest and vapid as the last, like a version of Mr Benn who wakes up and chooses a different ideology every day.
Of course, this is the fault of massive Tory failure over the previous years, which drove voters to hand Starmer his enormous majority, but that doesn’t excuse Labour or even Keir Starmer for allowing this farce to drag on for as long as it has.
This Government will now drift lazily and braindead towards the next election.
To quote Monty Python, this Government is no more, it has ceased to be, it has expired and gone to meet its maker. This is an ex-government. In office but not in power, and one which will have nothing to show for itself come the next election.
