For the Westminster Media-Political ‘blob’, Sir Keir Starmer has one overriding purpose, to keep Nigel Farage out of Downing Street. All of a sudden his most important backers, the legacy media, recognise he isn’t capable and are subjecting him to a humiliation ritual in revenge.
The polling is not good for Sir Keir: he has had one of the least promising first years in power of an election-winning leader in modern British history and the Farage-led Reform UK gave him a kicking in the recent England elections and shows no signs of slowing down. Starmer has attempted to fight back, of course, first by imitating Farage and then today by attacking him.
Strident words were offered, but the aggressive response of the usually docile media very strongly communicates a feeling there that Starmer may already have outlived his usefulness for them. Indeed, the cynical and biting comments from the media outlets that in normal times a Labour leader could absolutely rely upon to be their final, unwavering constituency imply outright sneering contempt for a leader failing to contain Nigel Farage.
First up after Starmer’s little attack speech was a call upon “Harry from the BBC”, who asked with a basic lack of deference so jarring for the state broadcaster it can leave one only with the impression the spell had well and truly broken for Starmer: “The speed of the decline in your popularity is historically unprecedented. Isn’t this speech today an admission that you have failed and that Nigel Farage understands voters better than you?”.
You can hardly blame Starmer for having stood there, mouth open, as he listened to this. Naturally there was no substantial answer — in total fairness to Starmer it is simply not normal for British Prime Ministers to give straight answers to awkward questions — only a stock response heard tens of dozens of times before. But what is implied is simple, Keir Starmer is unpopular because of the Conservative Party.
The Guardian, the house journal of the Starmer clan was also brutally unforgiving. Addressing the Prime Minister simply as “Keir”, their man asked: “…on the wider issue of the opposition you’re now facing, do you think one of the problems is that Nigel Farage can approximate talking like a human being where you just resort to talking points and dodging questions?”.
Ouch. Yet more journalists granted questions called the Prime Minister “defensive”, “panicking”, asked whether he was allowing Farage to “live rent free” in his head, accused him of copying Reform UK, and of being a hypocrite for accusing Farage of making spending promises while carrying out his own.
At least Starmer can take some solace in the rulebook of his own political party, which makes leadership challenges relatively difficult to call, unlike the Conservatives who seem to enjoy having them biannually. As things stand, unless a full fifth of his Members of Parliament rebel before the next party conference in September he can call himself safe for now.
Some conspiring is underway but, for now, from outside the party. John McDonnell, a member of Labour’s hard-left wing now purged from the party has called for a “grassroots leadership challenge” this week, arguing without bringing down Starmer activists risk losing their party altogether.
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