Maybe – just maybe – power will fall into Keir Starmer’s lap. The prime minister who led the Tories to an 80-seat majority less than three years ago has spectacularly self-immolated, tainting his colleagues and party in the process. A cost of living crisis gnaws at the personal finances of millions, topping off 12 years of economic stagnation. A Tory leadership contest promises to have all the dignity of a pack of cornered rats, with prospective candidates drumming up a culture war on trans rights while proposing expensive tax cuts for big business, rather than addressing the bread-and-butter issues of a crisis-stricken nation.
Labour had better hope that it is possible in these favourable circumstances to win an election without offering a vision for the UK, because that remains the party’s strategy. The official opposition’s chosen dividing lines with the government have been about character rather than policy. Given Boris Johnson has the sort of character that would be rejected by most Hollywood scriptwriters for being too cartoonishly disreputable, there was least a logic to this, especially as Starmer’s serial dishonesty in the Labour leadership campaign – here’s a man who stuck his hand up on television when asked if he supported renationalising energy, then stated he did not support nationalisation when safely elected – has been studiously ignored by media outlets.
