So ends Sir Keir Starmer’s first parliamentary year; not with a bang but a whimper. As the PM drifts rudderless in a sea of troubles, those happy days of July 2024 must seem like some faraway dream.
Days when all he had to do was say ‘Tory chaos’ to win a general election landslide, and when ‘change’ still sounded like a promise rather than a threat. When his grateful party hailed him as glorious victor and he looked forward to ‘a new era of partnership’ with his union comrades.
The smuggling gangs would be smashed, growth turbocharged, violent crime halved, confidence in the justice system restored and NHS waiting lists slashed. His stated mission was national renewal.
If he has learned anything in the past 12 months, it’s that opposition and government are two very different things.
We suspected all along there was less to Sir Keir than met the eye. But few predicted he would fall so far so quickly.
Growth is flatlining, thanks largely to his Chancellor’s £40billion Budget tax raid and crippling green levies on energy bills. Unemployment and inflation are rising and borrowing is at record levels.
Is this what Rachel Reeves meant by ‘fixing the foundations’ of the economy? Her tears in the Commons earlier this month perfectly reflected the angst of Middle Britain, braced for yet more tax rises.
Meanwhile, for all the empty rhetoric about tackling the people smugglers, illegal Channel crossings are more frequent than ever, and the public is increasingly angry about the consequences.
In Epping, Canary Wharf and elsewhere citizens concerned about the influx of young male asylum seekers are taking to the streets in protest.
If Sir Keir Starmer has learned anything in the past 12 months, it’s that opposition and government are two very different things
For all the empty rhetoric about tackling the people smugglers, illegal Channel crossings are more frequent than ever
The junior doctors are back on strike in pursuit of another ludicrous 29 per cent claim pay rise
In Epping, Canary Wharf and elsewhere citizens concerned about the influx of young male asylum seekers are taking to the street
It is no longer enough to pin this unrest on the ‘far-Right’. These are ordinary people worried about their families and their communities, which are undergoing radical change without their consent.
Police are gearing up for a summer of discontent, and they are right to do so.
Then there is the bitter schism with the unions. Just days after coming to power, Ms Reeves signed off inflation-busting pay hikes for public sector workers, including a whopping 22 per cent rise for junior doctors.
If she was expecting gratitude, she has been sorely disappointed. The junior (renamed ‘resident’) doctors are back on strike in pursuit of another ludicrous 29 per cent claim, while teachers and nurses are also expected to ballot on industrial action.
Labour’s biggest financial backer, Unite, is threatening to pull funding and has suspended the membership of Deputy PM Angela Rayner over her failure to back the Birmingham bin strikes
But perhaps most worrying for Sir Keir is that his MPs are in open revolt. Having forced a U-turn on winter fuel payments and scuppered plans for welfare reform they are intoxicated with their new-found power.
Most come from a background of Left-wing activism and favour tax, borrow and spend socialism over economic prudence. It is the economics of the madhouse from which we will all suffer.
Add in the Chagos Islands surrender, two-tier justice, soaring crime rates, an Attorney General who appears to despise his country, giving 16-year-olds the vote, and rampant anti-Semitism and it’s no wonder the public feel so thoroughly let down.
Sadly, there’s little cause for optimism. If Sir Keir can create such havoc in one parliamentary year, just imagine how much more he could wreak over the next four – if he lasts that long.
