Calamity, cataclysm, catastrophe: the lexicon ran out of words for Labour’s plight. Keir Starmer’s career-saving “reset” needed to be monumental. It was … OK-ish. But it didn’t dispel the sense of a country with no overall control. As ever, his tacking neither right or left, as he wrote in the Guardian, sends many Labour people into paroxysms of despair, when last week it lost most votes leftwards.
Britain at the heart of Europe was absolutely the right message, “shoulder to shoulder with the countries that share our interests, our values and our enemies” on growth, defence and energy. But as Starmer said himself, “incremental change won’t cut it”. His message lacked the ear-splitting sounds of red lines snapping and a manifesto straitjacket bursting open. Tiptoeing towards the single market and customs unions for a manifesto three years away doesn’t cut the mustard. What voters sniff, remainers and leavers alike, is the odour of cowardice, an unwillingness to say what he and Labour undoubtedly feel about Europe – rejoin ASAP.
