Politically, the PM is a dead man walking. It’s not a pretty sight.
PM Keir Starmer is living on borrowed time (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer’s time is up. His days in power are numbered. It’s only a matter of time now, and everybody knows it. The PM may walk about looking purposeful and important, but it’s only for show. Every day seems to deliver a new disaster. Growth stalls (again), inflation sticks (again), gilt yields rise (again), Chancellor Rachel Reeves U-turns (again) and poll numbers slip (again). It’s horrible to watch.
Starmer now presides over a runaway omnishambles, a ceaseless fustercluck. Nothing he can do or say can turn this round. Older voters have seen it all before. He’s Jim Callaghan, Gordon Brown, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak rolled into one.
Which is not a nice place to find yourself in. Especially when you’ve had a successful career, in a more appropriate line of work. Keir Starmer was a top lawyer, chief prosecutor and head of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Today, he’s the most unpopular PM on record and on Wednesday, Rachel Reeves’s knife-edge Budget will tip another bucketload of slurry over his head. Starmer is finished, everyone knows it. He should go back to what he does best.
Labour plotters are circling like vultures. Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham is limbering up (again). Angela Rayner is quietly plotting vengeance. Wes Streeting’s grin is fixed and fake. Even Shabana Mahmood and Ed Miliband might fancy a shot at replacing the empty suit now haunting No 10.
They all know Starmer is dead on his feet yet none of them will strike today. Why?
Because whoever grasps the crown now will inherit an even bigger mess than the one the Tories bequeathed to Starmer.
The moment the coup succeeds, Labour’s new PM becomes responsible for every row, crisis, humiliation and setback coming our way.
Worse, they have the dread knowledge that left-wing Labour backbenchers will block the tough action required to put things right.
The new leader will also carry the can for something really nasty that’s coming Labour’s way next May. The local elections.
Voters are lining up to tip yet more slurry over Labour. They’re raging at the cost-of-living crisis, soaring taxes, small boats and ragged local services, and need someone to take it out on.
They won’t hold back purely because Starmer has gone. They’ll cheefully empty their buckets on whoever takes his place.
Starmer’s rivals know they don’t have time to change the trajectory. So they’ll wait. Let Starmer get doused. Then sweep in and clean up. It’s brutal. It’s politics.
That leaves Starmer stuck in the same bleak place. In office but not in power, forced to pretend he’s still in control while colleagues smile and sharpen their axes.
The PM does have one escape route. He could resign. If he leaves before he’s shoved out, he can salvage a sliver of dignity. He should do himself and his family a favour, and take it.
Who knows? Given the calibre of those lining up to replace him, we might even miss him.