It is difficult to gauge who is the more discombobulated by the Labour government’s recent Damascene conversion to a political viewpoint roughly approximating to common sense – the Labour left, Reform or the Tory right. It is equally difficult to believe that the current administration is the same one which took office on 4 July last year, so wildly different is its apparent ideological viewpoint.
You will remember Keir Starmer’s first 100 days without much affection, I suspect. This was a government which seemed to delight in its staggering ineptitude, whether it be David Lammy and co conspiring with the Mauritians to reach a settlement on the Chagos Islands which infuriated the Chagossians, enraged the USA, cost us a lot of money, weakened our defences and pleased only the Chinese; or Rachel Reeves designing a Budget cunningly calculated to destroy completely what remained of our spavined economy. Add into the mix the personal enrichment of these dreadful politicians – the executive boxes, the gifts of middle-manager suits, the concert freebies – and one came to the conclusion that this was shaping up nicely to be the worst government in living memory, staffed by grasping oafs. Worse than Heath. Worse than Brown.
It seemed, too, that Starmer might not be too long for this world, nor would he be particularly saddened if the burden was suddenly taken from his shoulders. He looked perpetually constipated and tetchy, as if he had eaten nothing but rotten cheese for a month. The clock ticked, much as clocks do – and one counted down the days until Wes Streeting took over.
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