‘Beergate’ spells the end for Starmer’s image of honesty
THE death knell of Boris Johnson’s premiership was meant to have sounded by now. In the wake of the Partygate scandal and the cost-ofliving crisis, it was widely predicted that he would be brought down by a dismal set of local election results.
According to this narrative of political doom, as the municipal losses piled up, so would the letters of no confidence from Conservative MPs.
Yet by an extraordinary twist, it is not Johnson now in peril but Sir Keir Starmer. Instead of savouring triumph at the cost of the Tories, the Labour leader is fighting for survival.
His lack of appeal to voters, reflected in his party’s middling performance at the ballot box, has been dramatically compounded by the exposure of what seem to be epic hypocrisy and deceit.
On Friday, just as the full extent of Labour’s electoral setback was starting to emerge, Durham Police announced an investigation into “Beergate” – whether lockdown rules were breached by a gathering Sir Keir attended in the city last April, complete with curry, beer and a lengthy guest list headed by his deputy, Angela Rayner.
His repeated denials that any such social event took place appear to be contradicted by a wealth of new evidence, including witness testimony and a timetable that seems to indicate it was planned in advance.
EVEN worse, Sir Keir stands accused of the very offence for which he has so ferociously attacked Boris Johnson.
Ever since the Metropolitan Police started their inquiry into Partygate, the Labour leader has demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation. “Honesty and decency matter,” he declared. His sanctimony renders his position untenable. He is the Witchfinder General who has been caught running his own coven, the temperance campaigner found with his own stash of Special Brew.
What makes this saga all the more damaging is that, in direct contrast to the congenitally rakish Prime Minister, Sir Keir’s prime virtue is supposed to be his personal integrity.
He might be a dull, wooden performer, lacking in charisma and bold ideas, but his supporters like to claim he is a man of rare honesty and probity, dedicated to public service.
It was always a dubious argument. After all, Sir Keir campaigned energetically to overthrow Brexit and to make Marxist Jeremy Corbyn Prime Minister. The Durham episode has comprehensively shattered his moral authority.
Nor can Sir Keir defend himself by pointing to any great advance made by his party since he took charge. Even with the Tories badly weakened, Labour is in the doldrums. In
England on Thursday, it gained fewer seats outside London than the Greens and fewer councils than the Liberal Democrats. There is no indication the heartlands of the Red Wall are coming back.
In fact, the party’s vote fell by three per cent in the north of England. Labour’s spin machine hailed the capture of flagship Tory councils in the capital, Wandsworth, Barnet and Westminster. But that just reveals the depths of the problem: Labour is now the voice of the liberal metropolitan class while losing its working-class base. So it wins in Westminster, one of the richest places in Britain, but loses in Hull, one of the most disadvantaged.
For Labour strategists, there is no easy solution. Values that attract urban graduates, such as open borders, identity politics, European integration, softness on crime and distrust of nationhood,
are the very ones that alienate traditional, lowerincome supporters.
Trapped by ideology, Labour politicians are reduced to spluttering incoherence, as epitomised by their pathetic inability, in the climate of trans rights fervour, to answer the basic question, “What is a woman?”
BUT Johnson’s Tories cannot be complacent. They lost almost 500 seats on Thursday, crushed by the nationalists in Scotland and battered by the Lib-Dems in southern England.
In the words of research specialist James Frayne, “only Sir Keir Starmer’s struggles with the provincial workingclass spared the Conservatives from electoral Armageddon”.
On so many fronts, the Government is mired in struggle, including the economy, immigration, NHS waiting lists and lack of affordable housing. In Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein’s victory could thwart attempts to overturn the EU’s trade protocol.
The Prime Minister professes to be in fighting form. “It’s time to get off the ropes,” he said on Friday. But his party will need all the skill they can muster for the difficult road ahead.
‘Even with the Tories weakened, Labour is stuck in the doldrums’