There’s Nothing ‘Decent’ or ‘Competent’ About Keir Starmer

 If there was once thing we were always supposed to believe about Keir Starmer, it’s that he is a technocrat. Boring, sure. Lawyerly, undoubtedly. A man of the system – yes, Mr Speaker. But at least that he was competent and vaguely ‘decent’. All of this, in Starmer’s telling and much of the commentariat’s, placed him in stark contrast to Boris Johnson, the chaotic, devil-may-care populist whose ego meant the rules didn’t apply to him, and the Tories of partygate more generally. Starmer was Mr Rules, Mr Process, who in opposition in 2022, as the very first clause of his “contract with the British people”, pledged a “binding commitment” to “decency and standards in public life”.

Today, with the Mandelson albatross weighing heavier than ever on Starmer’s neck, and his Cabinet debating throwing him overboard in not-so-hushed tones, the twists and turns of this sorry saga have shown that Starmer is anything but. In the latest, Sir Keir is planning to force Labour MPs to vote down any attempt to refer him to a parliamentary sleaze inquiry over the appointment of the Prince of Darkness. This is the same committee which Starmer won great advantage in referring Boris Johnson to in April 2022, shortly before his felling (and which eventually decided that the PM had lied). From the point of view of Keir’s survival this is probably the right move – albeit it sets up an extraordinary test of Labour backbenchers’ careers versus their consciences. But clearly, it is nothing close to allowing “process” to go forward unhindered by political concerns. Like when he banned Manchester mayor and potential leadership rival Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election, this is a move of naked political self-interest from a shameless bruiser....<<<Read More>>>....