Earlier this week, as No 10 fell into chaos, Barry Gardiner went on Newsnight. The veteran backbench Labour MP – who served in both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets and on the shadow front bench under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn – was furious. “This government, from the beginning – in fact before it was a government – has cared more about extirpating the people who disagreed with it than they have about setting out a clear policy programme,” he said. “Every day people looking at this tonight will say, for God’s sake! What do these politicians think they’re doing?”
Gardiner’s appearance has galvanised some of his colleagues. He said the quiet part out loud (and on national television). Labour MPs have spent most of this week tearing their hair out at what they perceive as government incompetence. Briefings from within No 10 went live on Tuesday evening; they suggested the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, was plotting a coup against the Prime Minister. Streeting denies this charge. And to many MPs, he was vindicated by how flabbergasted he seemed by these accusations during a slick outing on Wednesday’s morning media round. Some within the Parliamentary Labour Party see this whole saga as a complete own goal. One disgruntled MP described No 10 staff in a text to the New Statesman as “fucking children”. Another said this whole saga was “the right of the party turning on each other like rats in a sack”.
But while many have whispered quietly about their true feelings towards this chaotic No 10 operation, Gardiner has made his opinions very clear. “People are looking at the government and asking, what are you giving us?” he told Victoria Derbyshire on Tuesday evening. Aiming his ire at Keir Starmer, Gardiner said, “You had ten pledges when you started campaigning to be the leader of the party, you’ve jettisoned them all. You have no clear policies and actually the public are fed up with it and it’s reflected in the polls.”
On Wednesday morning, Gardiner’s Newsnight monologue was the talk of Westminster. Many MPs admired his use of the word “extirpate”. One MP told the New Statesman, “if anyone could use the word extirpate on prime time TV, it’s Barry”. Another said the former shadow minister has now been given the nickname the “Extirpator” in a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. When asked by the New Statesman about his colleagues’ praise, Gardiner said, “Tacendum sapientiae amicus optimus” (silence is the best friend of wisdom).
It is likely that, as the chaos in No 10 deepens, Labour MPs will likely be more open with their criticism of the government. Many are furious with how the party leadership has handled the events of the past few days. With his critical flourish, Gardiner has shown the PLP how venting is done. But is No 10 even listening?
[Further reading: Inside Labour’s briefing fiasco: “Morgan has lost the plot”]
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