No two politicians could be less alike than Sir Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage. But it looks as though the Prime Minister is transitioning into the Reform party’s rumbustuous leader – or at least stealing his velvet collared clothes.
Consider the evidence.
Over the past few days and weeks, Labour has adopted a raft of the policies advocated by the right-wing insurgents. These include:
- Abolishing NHS England, the bureaucratic quango that runs our failing health service
- Announcing coming swingeing cuts to the ‘corrupt’ benefits system that Reform claims means that money is currently going to cheats and people who are not working.
- Cosying up and toadying to Nigel Farage’s bestie, President Donald Trump, previously demonised by leading Labour figures as a racist and fascist.
- Slashing the budget of International Development Aid by half – causing the resignation of the department’s Minister Anneliese Dodds – and sending the money saved to boost defence spending.
Labour’s dramatic rightward swerve in direction – doubtless prompted by Starmer’s policy guru Morgan McSweeney – is so radical that around half the cabinet’s ministers are reported to have expressed dismay and fears at their last meeting that the coming spending cuts will hit their departments.
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