Keir Starmer’s party has not only, as Jonathan Freedland says, sought “to reassure Tory switchers” that they have nothing to worry about, in doing so it has remoulded itself into a centre-right conservative Labour party, with policies so moderate that they’re in danger of Tory adoption prior to the election (Triumphant Starmer already seems like the prime minister. Now his troubles really begin, 3 May). Like the effect of Joe Biden’s weak stance over Gaza, the real danger is that many voters will “cast their ballots for alternatives to Sir Keir” (The Guardian view on local elections: voters aren’t listening to Tories, but are hearing Labour, 3 May).
Does Freedland seriously believe that if the Gaza situation is “sufficiently calmed” come election day, voters are so fickle that they will have forgotten Starmer’s refusal to support an immediate ceasefire, or his hesitation about whether Israel has the right to withhold power and water from Gaza?
