Bruised by the loss of hitherto safe Runcorn and a council kicking, Keir Starmer’s Downing Street continues to instil dread in frustrated ministers. One groaned that the latest conflict is between chief enforcer Morgan McSweeney and Tony Blair-era veteran Liz Lloyd, hired as director of policy, delivery and innovation after a money-making sojourn in banking. McSweeney signs something off and Lloyd raises objections or she gives a green light and he flashes red, complained a weary victim. No 10 insists a second pair of eyes is about the avoidance of errors. Paralysis is another outcome.
Ecky thump after Reform infuriated Mr Speaker with a proposed ban on county flags fluttering over town halls. Lindsay Hoyle is as Lancastrian as tripe, clogs and the red rose on the pennants that are at risk of being hauled down now Reform controls Lancashire poles. Party chair Zia Yusuf decreed that only the Union Jack and St George’s cross would in future be permitted. Although Nigel Farage swiftly added county emblems to the unbanned list, no Reform MPs were called in the chamber by hopping mad Hoyle. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s blue and yellow bands remain banished by Reform. Vlad the Invader, subject of Farage’s admiration, will be pleased.
A Reform snout whispered that Farage was warned before the by-election that Runcorn victor Sarah Pochin would be a decent local candidate but never good enough to represent the party nationally on TV. That he nevertheless embraced her illustrated that his party is now functioning like Labour, the Cons and Libs who prioritise bomb-proof candidates over longer-term career development.
Labour MPs ordered to knock on doors in Runcorn were issued with advice on how to handle hostility. If the voter raised winter fuel then they were lost, the MPs were informed, so no point wasting precious canvassing time. If they were scared about welfare cuts then they could be persuadable. “Great,” muttered a blow-in from Westminster. “In Labour we now consider scaring people to be acceptable.”
A few doors along from the old Granita restaurant where Blair and Brown stitched up the Labour leadership (or Tony stitched up Gordon in the Talibrown version), an earlier drama is played out in Islington’s King’s Head Theatre. The Gang of Three chronicles the failure of rivals Roy Jenkins, Tony Crosland and Denis Healey to unite on the Labour right to stop first Jim Callaghan then Michael Foot become Labour leader. Your columnist spotted Labour ex-spinner Matthew “just stopped” Doyle, once-jailed Lib Dem former cabinet minister Chris Huhne, and Reform eccentric Gawain Towler in the audience. That’s as much intrigue off as on the stage.
[See also: David Attenborough at 99: “Life will almost certainly find a way”]
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This article appears in the 07 May 2025 issue of the New Statesman, The Peace Delusion