Smarmy Starmer is not making himself popular with anyone

The verdict of the Twitter jury is in, articulated in a single, now viral tweet by broadcaster Matthew Stadlen:

‘Keir Starmer would have been – and would be – a far better Prime Minister than Boris Johnson during this pandemic.’

It is a theme that Starmer has naturally been keen to develop, leading him to make excoriating criticisms of Boris Johnson in a press conference at the weekend. The Starmer thesis is that Johnson is so anxious to be liked that he ducks out of taking tough decisions until it is too late. The Labour leader cites examples that include the lateness of the original lockdown, an allegedly late-in-the-day decision to extend the furlough scheme, the lateness of the second lockdown and finally the last-minute cancellation of Christmas:

‘It was blatantly obvious last week that the PM’s plan for a free-for-all over Christmas was a risk too far… he did what he always does: dismissed the challenge, ruffled his hair and made a flippant comment’