If Sir Keir Starmer was only judged on his handling of global issues, it would have been a happy first anniversary for the Labour government. The visit by the President of France was a sign that the years of tension with our near neighbours caused by Brexit is beginning to come to an end.
The improved arrangements with the European Union, whilst far too cautious, was a step in the right direction. Starmer has also shown that the UK will be a key player in the defence of Europe against Russia. He has even managed to establish a working relationship with the volatile President of the United States. The only misstep has been the Chagos Islands deal, an unnecessary nod to those who want to dismantle what is left of the British Empire.
But it is on the domestic front, not foreign fields that the government has currently lost the battle of public opinion. Labour MPs are preparing for a long hot summer in their constituencies where they are likely to get a grim message from those fighting the cause of the party locally.
I was talking to a senior representative of Labour’s troops on the ground and suggested panic was not justified. I pointed out the government has four years left, and if things turn round in a couple of years, all might be well. I was fixed with a firm stare and then told, “we have one year before the people stop listening to us.” So, there we have it. A journalist playing down the drama (for once) and a Labour politician stressing the urgency of the situation.
So, what can be done in just a year to deal with the large threat from Reform UK, the lesser threat from the Corbyn left, and the almost non-existent challenge of the Conservatives?
In a nutshell people need to feel the services they are paying for are getting better, the welfare mess needs to be sorted, and the boats need to be stopped.
I don’t hold out much hope, frankly. There is some good news on waiting lists, but the spectacle of the resident (ex-junior) doctors threatening strike action after massive unconditional pay awards last summer, shows that the pressure on the Chancellor to find more money for pay is far greater than a general acceptance that reform of the public services is top priority.
There are big questions around the willingness of the “class of 24” Labour MPs to back their own government in its struggle to cut ballooning costs. For instance, the two-child benefit cap is generally popular with the public who believe you should only have the number of children you can afford. However, it is now seen by many Labour backbenchers as their next test of strength with ministers.
Finally, as a small L liberal, I have been driven a long way by the boat people spectacle. I don’t want a Farage government, but unless the boat people are stopped, we will get one. So, I am now driven to calling for the disapplying of the Human Rights Convention relied upon by judges to make asinine decisions on right to remain and detention camps, not hotels, to house the refugees. This might send the signal which stops this vile trade. I write this with a very heavy heart and in the knowledge that this government won’t go near such solutions.
NORMAN TEBBIT
How the Tories need someone like him now. I didn’t like his abrasive style when I interviewed him, but he was a key figure in the Thatcher era.
We wanted to succeed her until the IRA nearly killed him and paralysed his wife for life in the Grand Hotel Brighton bombing in 1984.
I was in that very hotel until 1am that morning, and so reflect, with some feeling, on the courage Tebbit showed then and afterwards.
