Westminster’s journalists gathered in No 10’s state rooms for a reception with the Prime Minister last night. Every time I’ve seen Keir Starmer since he entered office, he has been grinning. In many ways, Rishi Sunak left him a blessed inheritance. When he’s not been at the Euros in Germany, he has been cavorting with Macron at Blenheim Palace. Today, he is travelling to Paris for the Olympics opening ceremony.
But beneath the glamour, the situation is grim. Labour is finding, and making sure it is seen to find, broken public service after dilapidated department. The screams of, “Oh, horror, horror, horror!” are heard upon the opening of any Whitehall door. It knows that the stories it tells in these first five weeks will shape how it is viewed for the next five years. The lower the bar from which the Labour Party start, the higher the perceived achievement.
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