Keir Starmer: Somehow Still Missing The Point

I can’t believe it. I genuinely can’t believe it. Labour victory is now well within sight at the next election. The electorate is crying out for change, finally sick of this corrupt government. And yet, somehow, still, the party, particularly its leader, Keir Starmer, is managing to spectacularly miss the point.

Last week Labour saw fantastic results at the by-elections, absolutely routing the Conservative Party in Selby and Ainsty, with a more than 20% increase in votes compared to 2019. And yet, the topic of conversation for the past week has not been how Labour convinced Selby and Ainsty to swing red.

Rather, it has been about how Uxbridge and South Ruislip – a Tory safe seat and stronghold since its creation in 2010, and having been consistently Tory since 1970 before that – was somehow a crushing loss for the Labour Party, who managed to close the 15% gap in the vote-share in 2019 to just 1.6% four years later.

This loss was immediately chalked up to the expansion of the ULEZ zone in London, which is largely hated by people who think they have a God-given right to drive pollution-spewing death-boxes wherever they please, and a small but vocal contingent of conspiracy theorists that think “being able to walk to your local amenities in 15 minutes” is exactly the same thing as being locked in a Stalinist gulag. Oh, horror. I’m sure they’ll start force-feeding us crickets any day now.

Of course, Keir Starmer has bitten down on this obviously cynical bit of Tory damage control hook, line and sinker, stating that Labour is “doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour party end up on each and every Tory leaflet.”

Which is quite the take for Mr Starmer to have, given that this is literally what the Tories do any time Labour suggest a move that is even slightly progressive.

It isn’t just ULEZ to which Starmer seems keen to bend the knee to Tory culture-war bullshit. He also recently dropped a Labour pledge to support self-ID for trans people, creating a rift between the Labour Party in England and Scottish Labour, which supports self-ID.

He has also previously backed a review of the Equality Act which would exclude trans women and men from sex-based protections by defining “sex” as biological sex, something that could leave many trans people vulnerable in their daily lives.

There is no nice way of putting this.

For a man so dedicated to appearing savvier and more put-together than his admittedly incompetent predecessor, Keir Starmer is an utter clown.

He seems to believe that Conservative politicians, especially today’s Conservative politicians, always say and do things in good faith. Their actions in recent months have shown that they do anything but.

Tories lie. They lie, and lie, and lie. They lie about immigrants. They lie about trans people. They lie about rap music, and nationalisation, and lockdown gatherings.

They laughed and boozed as thousands died undignified deaths from preventable disease, as their families had to say goodbye to them over video calls, as they had to be buried in ceremonies of but a smattering of people.

And yet, Keir Starmer seems more than happy to climb into bed with them if he thinks it’ll help him win votes in Tory strongholds.

Does Keir Starmer know he’s a Tory stooge, I wonder? Or does he think he’s playing the long game? Or has he, like so many milquetoast politicians before him, decided to look in the mirror, take a deep breath, and say “I have got to get more bigoted”?

Labour is a party that is doing well in spite of its inept leader, who is practically within arm’s reach of the keys to No. 10, but still seems to be finding ways to convince voters to trust him about as far as they can throw him.

I am still undecided as to how I will vote in the next election. I will probably hold my nose and vote Labour. But I will do it under duress. The Labour Party deserves a better leader than this man. Britain deserves a better leader than this man.

If the Labour Party really wants to win votes, and keep winning votes, I suggest they make their next leader, whenever that may be, someone who genuinely believes in a kinder, better future. Because Keir Starmer has proven, time and again, that he doesn’t, never has, and never will.

And I, for one, find it quite hard to get behind that.