Not for the first time, the Labour Party has landed itself in a strategic muddle. In the unofficial yet intense leadership contest, the current pre-eminent candidates Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting have both signalled that the scale of the government’s unpopularity demands new thinking and a course correction and have both publicly targeted Sir Keir Starmer as a liability.
Mr Streeting, who has now liberated himself from collective cabinet responsibility (albeit that was never his strongest suit), says “we need bigger politics”. He calls for a “competition of ideas” and warns: “We won’t find radical solutions by ignoring ideas in favour of just problem solving – as though government is the same as management consultancy.” Ouch!
