The last few months have been a godsend for the Labour party. Ten points ahead in the polls, with the Tories mired in the sleaze, its members now get to watch Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss slug it out all summer. Not for nothing then has Sir Keir Starmer sought to grasp the mantle of change and portray his party as the sensible, sober party of government, which will restore integrity to British politics.
But is that really fair? Just this morning on Radio 4’s Today programme, Starmer was asked by Nick Robinson about the ‘ten pledges’ on which he ran to be Labour leader in April 2020. Robinson accused Starmer of abandoning his pledge to ‘stand shoulder to shoulder’ with trade unions by refusing to back MPs picketing in solidarity and then asked about the nationalisation of rail, energy and water industries. Rachel Reeves dismissed this yesterday yet, as Robinson pointed out, point number five of Starmer’s ‘ten pledges’ was:
Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders.
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