Starmer’s Memo to Self: Resign in May

Desmond Cliff0rd

I’d started to think Labour had finished undermining itself. The Caerphilly by-election, I reasoned, must have been a lesson in humility.

Well pardon me for being rational. I under-estimated Kier Starmer.

Not content with a super-human effort to squander the benefits of a 170 parliamentary majority, his determination to erode Labour’s credentials in Wales still further ahead of May’s elections is truly noteworthy.

The leaked Downing St memo, which Rhun flourished like a malign white rabbit in the Senedd this week, was apparently written in December, well after Caerphilly, and so is a response to that result.

If I was lining up for Labour in May’s election I’d be thinking, what the heck?

Devolution was created by a Labour Government in 1999 and now they’ve checked-out of their own creation.

Get this. If, as polls suggest, Plaid Cymru leads the Welsh Government from May, then all three First Ministers will be advocating departure from the United Kingdom.

Quite a thing, isn’t it? If nothing else, it’s dire branding for the Union. At a time of international tension, a post-Brexit decline in Britain’s international standing, and a necessary focus on national defence, you might think the UK Government’s interest is linked to building respect and strong relations among the nations.

Not a bit of it. Irrespective of the fact that the Welsh people elected its own government – a Labour one, as it happens – the UK Government apparently knows best.

Keir Starmer’s political judgement is about as reliable as Tottenham Hotspur’s defence.

The UK Government’s condescension and disinterest is inexplicable, and one day there will be a price to pay for this sleepwalk.

Instead of developing co-operation, the Prime Minister actively exhorts his ministers to undermine, not by accident but by design, the devolution settlement. They’re no worse than their Conservative predecessors, but most of us expected them to be better. We were wrong.

It was Boris Johnson, after Brexit, who devised the policy of spending and making decisions in devolved areas.  “Taking back control” – he didn’t only mean Brussels.

Johnson’s policy was vigorously opposed by the Welsh and Scottish governments, and by the then Labour Opposition in the UK Parliament.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman, and the opponent of Johnson’s policy was – well, you know the answer don’t you…?

Indignation

I’m trying to summon indignation but, really, I’m going through the motions. It’s hard any longer to feign shock at Starmer’s political ineptitude. At every junction with two choices, it’s almost inevitable he’ll take the wrong one.

His determination to undermine Welsh Labour at every turn is beyond farce.

Fittingly or ironically, whichever you prefer, May’s elections could deliver the final blow to Starmer.

He’d be gone already if there was consensus on a successor, but no one thinks he can lead Labour into the next UK election.

Eluned’s continuing loyalty come-what-may is a touch grim. Any relationship is a two-way street and I struggle to think of a single thing Starmer has done to assist her.

The same is true for Scotland. A couple years ago, the talented Anas Sarwar looked like he had a real chance of winning the Scottish Parliament back to Labour for the first time in a generation. No longer, and it’s largely the UK party which has done for him. No wonder he called publicly for Starmer to go.

Starmer’s not going anywhere this side of May’s elections, and, at this point, I doubt it’d make much difference in Wales.

Labour must stand or fall on its record as the Welsh Government over 27 years, for better or worse.

Polls

Labour’s dominance in Wales may be ending but isn’t over yet. They might do better than the worst polls suggest and might still play a role in forming the next Welsh government, directly or indirectly.

Equally, they could struggle to finish fourth, and even fifth is among the real possibilities.

The former Counsel General, Mick Antoniw, is correct in calling for the Wales Office to be abolished. It is the greatest single barrier to effective relations between the Welsh and UK governments.

The Wales Office is the lens through which the UK Government sees Wales, and there’s the problem.

The Welsh Government, elected by the Welsh people, is the legitimate voice for Wales and the partner the UK Government should work with.

That’s the logic of devolution and it is past time for the UK Government to grow up and broker proper dialogue among Britain’s nations.

Rethink

After the election, someone needs to take hold of the Labour party in Wales and force a rethink. The old guard should get out the way and younger people more in tune with Wales’ future need to create new options.

A party operating as a branch of a London head office has no future in the Senedd, nor has a party of independent spirit constantly undermined by centralising and controlling London grandees.

Someone needs to channel their inner Rhodri Morgan and put the “Welsh” back into Welsh Labour.

Welsh MPs need to decide whether they really want to represent Wales or whether they’re simply voting fodder and UK careerists.

Through a quarter of a century, it looked as if ground had been won by Welsh Labour.  Right now, that ground is pot-holed and contested.  If Labour doesn’t occupy it, someone else will.