The Death Throes of Labour

Ben Wildsmith

Keir Starmer’s government was always going to be dreadful. Having dismantled the party’s progressive programme, leaving a threadbare manifesto that shrugged, ‘Hey, we can’t be any worse than Sunak!’ nobody was expecting a transformational administration.

All people were really hoping for was competence. After the chaos of the last 10 years, a solid managerial effort looked, to many people, like blessed relief from the self-indulgent batshittery of Tory rule in the aftermath of Brexit and the pandemic.

Maybe we could all just, you know, take a breath and be normal for a bit…

Well, no, as it turns out, we can’t. Just shy of a year into his tenure, Starmer is facing open revolt from his parliamentary party and catastrophic approval ratings from the public.

None of that is unusual, except in the context of Labour’s large majority which was swelled by Reform UK’s evisceration of the Tory vote. Even so, governments the world over are dealing with fractious internal politics and electorates that feel the system is letting them down.

Flaky handling

The stand-out feature of this administration is its flaky handling of these common problems. From winter fuel payments, to changes in the PIP criteria, to dealings with Donald Trump, and the ongoing nightmare in Gaza, Starmer’s government has consistently backed down in the face of adversity.

The swagger of the government’s first days in office belied the shallow nature of its support.

Forgetting that Nigel Farage had effectively destroyed the Conservatives for him, Starmer’s initial attitude was a continuance of his party management in opposition. Troublesome lefties were immediately cast out of the party when they objected to its support of the two-child benefit cap.

John McDonnell, who has forgotten more about Labour politics than Starmer will ever learn, remains exiled to this day, tweeting wise advice from outside the fold.

Now, however, as the new intake finds a little confidence, and older hands see the sure signs of a doomed leadership, objections to austerity have Starmer running scared. U-turns over the winter fuel payment and PIP regulations have exposed a frailty at the top which is as alarming as it is contemptible.

In a cost-of-living crisis that seems never to abate, taking income away from people is a serious business.

Regardless of Starmer’s mantra to have ‘changed’ the Labour Party, the public expect its priorities to lie with less advantaged folks than are faithfully served by the Tories. So, when the Treasury, under Labour, is briefing that urgent benefit cuts are required if the nation is to remain solvent, people assume that the matter must be critical.

It is no good, however, spooking the public that the bailiffs are about to arrive at Buckingham Palace, and then relenting at the first whiff of parliamentary discontent. We have every right to accuse the government of misleading us over its benefit policies.

Political choices

Measures that were presented as unavoidable to prevent disaster, have been revealed as the voluntary political choices of a government that considers a wealth tax to be beyond the pale, whilst accepting the Tory dogma that we are a nation of scroungers.

Whilst pleading poverty, the government has doubled defence expenditure and promised Ukraine £3 billion per year ad infinitum. This latter commitment was originally linked to ‘favourable’ status regarding access to Ukraine’s supposed treasure trove of rare earth elements.

The week after this was agreed, however, Donald Trump announced that access to these resources was a stipulation of continued US involvement in Ukraine. If Starmer has mentioned it again, I missed it.

Whilst dancing to Thatcher’s tune and then capitulating if threatened, the government has reserved its resolve for soft targets. Pop singers are hauled before the courts; protestors are not merely criminalised but branded as ‘terrorists’ in an act of political overreach that would shame General Pinochet. Anybody who can be performatively bullied for the benefit of potential Reform UK voters is fair game. Starmer has become beholden to everyone, and beloved of no one.

Ignored

At the Welsh Labour conference, to which Nation.Cymru was unwelcome, the prime minister was scheduled for a 40-minute speech and reportedly left 5 minutes early without speaking to any members of the Welsh press. The plaintive cries of Labour MSs for devolution of the Crown Estate are ignored by a UK party that appears to have written them off.

Economic forecasts remain dire, division in the nation worsens by the week, and public confidence in government is at an unprecedented nadir.

When Labour’s vote collapses at the Senedd election next year, you can point not only to the party’s disloyalty and callousness in Westminster, but also to its blundering incompetence. Mistaking conformism for prudence is why dull politicians can be dangerous creatures.

For all Keir Starmer’s horn-rimmed earnestness, he has allowed his government to be tossed around on the seas of public opinion and international pressure. His supposedly safe hands have dithered Labour into its death throes.