Battle-ready, armour-clad Keir Starmer put on a pair of shinpads after returning to Downing Street from the photoshoot at the BAE Systems’ Govan shipyard where he unveiled Labour’s military spending spree*. War-war on the Clyde in Glasgow was followed by jaw-jaw in No 10 for the football-loving Prime Minister. Starmer, 63 in September, hosted a Show Racism the Red Card awards evening. The PM still enjoys regular kickabouts with old team-mates and quipped he’d asked for a script referring to him as an “ageing midfielder” be changed to “box-to-box midfielder”. The Arsenal fan was observed chatting excitedly with Tottenham Hotspur and England former star Ledley “he’s only got one knee” King. After another trophy-less season for Starmer’s club, the encounter prompts questions about how far Arsenal are from silverware. The answer is 4.5 miles – the distance in north London between the Emirates and Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium after Spurs lifted the Europa League cup in May.
* Treasury T&Cs apply to future military expansion
As Jonathan Reynolds and Angela Rayner, the Business Secretary and Deputy PM, mastermind what they call the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation, the conditions of parliament’s own wage slaves are eroding. Bermondsey shop steward Neil Coyle is seeking a meeting with brother Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, son of late peer and trade union bigwig Doug Hoyle. The subject? The draining of a redeployment pool for security guards deemed insufficiently fit to protect MPs. Uniformed officers removed from duty are now only to be permitted to seek alternative posts for the duration of notice periods. Talk is of a challenge under disability law, another area the government is committed to strengthening.
Two chatting Labour MPs stumbled on the strategic chaos at the heart of the government’s benefit cuts. The second of the pair called into Downing Street for a pep talk and spotted a flip chart justifying PIP cuts: the third point on the list emphasised dignity for the most severely disabled. He argued it should’ve been the first. “Hmmm,” replied the MP who’d been in the day before, “that wasn’t even on the board when we went in and expressed concern for those who unable to work.”
The Govan shipyard graced by Starmer and Defence Secretary John Healey was rescued from closure in 1971 by the historic Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in. Trade unionists led by Communist firebrands Jimmy Airlie and Jimmy Reid forced Ted Heath to U-turn and sink Tory plans to end shipbuilding on the Clyde. The irony that a couple of comrades saved a launch pad for Starmer’s bomb bonanza wasn’t lost on a Labour Socialist Campaign Group MP, who groaned that every revolution devours its own, and it will be cuts to key public services that are likely to fund rearmament.
[See also: Britain’s ghost children]
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This article appears in the 04 Jun 2025 issue of the New Statesman, The Housing Trap