It is a cliche that Labour is the party of work – “the clue is in the name” – and yet the first time that proposition has been tested in government resulted in a humiliating retreat. Keir Starmer failed to make the case for welfare reform, which meant that it looked as if he and Rachel Reeves, his iron chancellor, just wanted to save money.
After it was presented to Labour backbenchers as a choice between austerity and defending the rights of people with disabilities, there was only going to be one outcome – and it is a measure of the prime minister’s naivety that he didn’t see this until the last moment.
