The Tories have missed Starmer’s Achilles heel

The main Tory attack on Starmer since he became leader of the Labour party is that he is ‘too much of a lawyer’; dull and metropolitan. The problem with this line is that it complements the narrative Starmer is trying to build himself, namely that he is competent while Boris is not. As such, it is worse than ineffective as a strategy — it is actually counterproductive. What is strangest about the continued use of the lawyer strategy is that there is an alternative attack on Starmer staring the Tories in the face, one they have not yet touched.

When Sir Keir ran to be Jeremy Corbyn’s successor, he rolled out ten pledges that at the time he said would define his leadership of the Labour party. For centrist dads like me, those who think that perhaps Starmer represents the great hope for centrism, the ten pledges make for uncomfortable reading.