Starmer’s first 100 days could not have gone worse

Labour marks 100 days in power tomorrow, but there is precious little for Keir Starmer to celebrate. It is a truism of modern politics that a government’s first three months or so sets the tone for everything that follows. If the newbies hit the ground running, all will be well; if not, disaster inevitably awaits.

As Labour ruefully contemplates the ruinous results of its first hundred days, a landscape of shivering and penurious pensioners; suits, specs and soccer seats worth thousands scrounged from generous millionaires; parents penalised for sending their kids to private schools; British territory handed over; vicious infighting in Downing Street; tax hikes on the way and plummeting popularity in the polls, it may be instructive to compare Starmer’s ‘achievements’ with the administration that originally set the benchmark for 100 days of success: the first of the four terms of US president FD Roosevelt.