Very bad news this morning for Keir Starmer.
Vice Admiral has been thinking things through, and has decided he can no longer support the Prime Minister. I fear this may prove to be the final nail in his coffin, since the UKP political thread is very influential in political circles – but I cannot be silent about my decision.
The plain fact is that my mantra that Starmer is “the least worst Prime Minister currently potentially available to us” is no longer sustainable. His sacking of Olly Robbins was hasty, crass and petulant. And the strange business of his trying to dump Matthew Doyle, a superannuated aide, onto one of Britain’s embassies abroad – and without mentioning it to the then foreign secretary, David Lammy – also smells bad.
Until last week, I took the view (as many did) that Starmer would survive disastrous election results at the start of next month, but now I am far from sure. He looks terminally shop-soiled.
Unfortunately there is no guarantee that, if there is a challenge, the outcome will be happy. There are reports that Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting have been discussing a pact, but Rayner / Streeting would hardly be a dream ticket. Mediocrities.
But Starmer has lost the fans and the dressing-room and now – most importantly – me.
Without Robbinsgate, he might have survived. But this has come at just the wrong time for him. Even if there is no challenge in May, it would take a miracle for him to survive the year.
Those of us who are “influencers” – and I now have at least two followers – obviously have to act responsibly when it comes to giving advice and making suggestions.
In this spirit I’ve reconsidered what I wrote on 23 April (see above) and changed my mind. What I wrote then was premature, and looking at it now reminds me of the importance of not responding too precipitately to events.
Yes, of course, Keir Starmer is totally unsuited to being PM – weak, indecisive, incapable of taking tough (or any) decisions, and short on charisma.
But ...
... just consider the alternatives!
To say nothing of the fact that the last thing this struggling government needs is prolonged squabbling about what direction it will take. And a drift to the left – which would happen under any of the plausible candidates (apart from the dreary Streeting) – is the last thing this all-but-bankrupt nation needs.
Meanwhile, I would suggest that it's fine, on 7 May, to vote Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat or Plaid Cymru – even, if you must, SNP – but not to vote for “the unspeakable Faragistas” or “the ludicrous Greens” (to use terms from an opinion piece by A. N. Wilson in yesterday’s
Times).
Populist parties have superficial appeal, but it is vital for the sake of the political health of the nation that the old (fairly) grown-up parties survive and prosper.
