Love and hugs are in short supply in today’s embattled Labour Party.
Ed Miliband will be happy to see Rachel Reeves dominate the headlines instead of him (Image: Getty)
No time for niceties when a government is falling apart like this one. As Labour once again proves it’s not up to power, the left resorts to what it does best, fighting like cats in a bag. Ministers are all at it. Scrapping to save their careers by blaming everyone but themselves for their cack-handed ineptitude.
The Budget brought out the divisions in spectacular style. Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered it under threat from Labour’s rebellious backbenchers, high on their success in blocking welfare reforms in her last Budget. They’ve forced her into FOUR humiliating U-turns so far, over the winter fuel payment, welfare reform, income tax and the two-child benefit cap.
The two teams writing the Budget, one appointed by No 10 and the other by the Treasury, were also at each other’s throats.
Torsten Bell, parliamentary secretary for the Treasury, kicked off with a foul-mouthed rant that left colleagues cringing. Bell may have the face of a choirboy, but he rants like a drunken sailor on shore leave who’s just had his wallet lifted, and set the tone for the shambles that followed.
There’s no love, peace or harmony to be found in the Labour Party these days. Not with Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner jostling for the privilege of stabbing PM Keir Starmer in the back.
This isn’t surprising. Factional in-fighting is what the left does best, and the harder the left, the bigger the knuckledusters.
Don’t believe me? Just look at Zarah Sultana, Jeremy Corbyn and the rest of the dismal Your Party crew. Watching them claw, spit and snarl at each other is comedy gold. We can laugh, because they’re not running the country. Unfortunately, Starmer’s rabble is.
Amid the bitching and back-biting, Reeves has performed one small act of mercy. In fact, she’s done energy secretary Ed Miliband a massive favour. Although I’m not sure she meant to.
The fallout from last week’s Budget has dominated the headlines for days, as taxpayers rage against yet another politically motivated tax blitz, this one based on a lie that’s outrageous even by this government’s standards.
It’s a nightmare for Reeves, and Starmer, but comes as sweet relief for Ed Miliband. Because the nation is too distracted to notice the chaos in his department.
While all eyes are on Reeves, Miliband quietly continues a reckless spending spree of his own.
In his mad dash for net zero, he’s pouring tens of billions into energy quango with no purpose, and carbon capture technology that’s never worked, anywhere.
Miliband lurches from one costly disaster to the next, splashing billions on unwanted mega heat networks and despised home heat pumps, while leaving taxpayers on the hook for tens of billions on the Sizewell C nuclear plant. He’s despoiling the countryside with wind turbines, solar panels and pylons, and driving up our home energy bills after he pledged to cut them.
Now he’s just suffered fresh humiliation as oil giant BP cancels its huge H2Teeside hydrogen plant, which would have powered a million homes.
Approval was delayed by a clash between Miliband and Starmer, who wants to build Europe’s largest data centre. BP’s had enough, so pulled out.
The oil giant doesn’t owe this government anything, given the way Miliband has destroyed the UK’s North Sea oil and gas industry. His latest setback has had little attention, because the spotlight is on Reeves.
The Labour Party may be at each other’s throats but Miliband should spare Reeves a comradely smile, hug or peck on the cheek for keeping him out of the headlines. He’ll be back there soon enough, because we can’t ignore this havoc monster much longer.
