There’s logic behind the Labour leader’s approach
What is Keir Starmer thinking? His approach might baffle Tory MPs, who wonder if he will ever spring to life. The answer, though, is that he’s playing a long game. He hopes he will be a strong opposition leader when the time is right.
For now, it is time to offer support to Boris Johnson’s government. The pandemic has created tricky terrain for the shadow cabinet. Much like in wartime, normal political rules don’t apply, because ‘people want the government to succeed’. Starmer’s supporters say coronavirus means the Labour party has been squeezed out of the conversation.
It’s not as simple as Starmer not knowing what he wants, even if some Labour MPs see this as the main problem. He initially planned his interventions as ‘constructive opposition’ in a time of national crisis, but this approach has started to wear thin. Tory MPs have taken to referring to him as ‘Captain Hindsight’, because of his habit of calling for measures that were clearly imminent. Meanwhile the media have grown more critical of him and Labour’s popularity has fallen.rest
A successful vaccine rollout has bolstered the Tories. Starmer’s critics say this was not inevitable. Opposition parties across the world have managed to make hay, not just in spite of the pandemic but because of it. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the election, while in Germany, Angela Merkel is under fire. ‘It can be done. Just look around,’ says an unsympathetic Labour colleague.
Read the article by Katy Balls in The Spectator.