Starmer looked out of place in the mountains with Sky's Beth Rigby
Seeing the Prime Minister surrounded by mountains and pines was odd
Rigby asked whether the Prime Minister had any idea what President Trump was doing about the Middle East that was so important that he had to leave the G7 early.
'I actually sat next to the President at that meeting,' came the non sequitur reply. I have confidence that there is probably a 15 per cent chance that The Donald actually doesn't know who Starmer is. One can imagine the conversation on the home trip on Air Force One: 'Hey, lil' Marco, why'd they sit me next to that brylcreamed Limey who sounds like he has a cold?'
Next came the inevitable Grooming Gangs question. Hardly one of the PM's favourite things; he gave a weird look that was supposed to say 'earnest' but actually said 'constipated'. Rigby hammered home; he really didn't think he owed anyone an apology, did he? There followed a self justificatory list of his achievements. Somewhere in his youth or childhood, he must have done something good, that sort of thing.
After this touching interlude was over he claimed that he 'tried to remain courteous at all times' – which will come as news to any of the women who have ever asked him a question he didn't like in the House – before launching into a direct attack on Kemi Badenoch. At the end of this, Rigby gave him a sort of pitying smile, like one might deliver at the sight of a dropped bag of shopping or a weeping clown.
Rigby went further: did there need to be prosecutions of those in institutions who had covered this up? The hills were alive with the sound of bluster.
'There must be accountability…there must be no stone unturned…but I'm not going to say here X, Y, Z'. He might as well have added 'Do-Re-Mi' for all the effect it would have had on his meaning. I have read things on the back of lavatory cubicles or scrawled on railway underpasses which convey more meaning than this string of platitudes.
Rigby asked again if he wanted to see more prosecutions and got the same answer. Interviewing the present government is no easy task: you can Climb Every Mountain, ford every stream: and still at the end of it you have a pile of Edelscheiss.
Rigby ended on a 'most proud moment and biggest regret', as if it was an interview with Smash Hits! magazine. Apparently our Lonely Goatherd hadn't 'told his story as best he could'. You can say that again. Or yodel it, it'd be just as compelling and coherent.
So it was we bid 'So Long, Farewell' to the Prime Minister. Unlike the Sound of Music there is no happy ending to this tale: instead of staying in his alpine G7 wonderland, our very own Maria is back on Wednesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
15 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
MP likens Government to flat-earthers over refusal to compensate Waspi women
Labour's Rebecca Long Bailey said the arguments against compensation for the 1950s-born women are 'bizarre' and akin to those made by people who believe the Earth is flat. The Government last December ruled out a compensation package for women born in the 1950s, whose state pension age was raised so it would be equal with men. This is despite Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves being among the senior ministers to support the Waspi campaign when Labour was in opposition. A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) had recommended the UK Government pay compensation to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised so it would be equal with men. The watchdog also said the women should be paid up to £2,950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5 billion to the public purse, as poor communication meant they had lost out on the chance to plan their retirement finances. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group is currently seeking a judicial review to force the Government to reconsider its decision to rule out a compensation package. Work and pensions minister Torsten Bell, who is also a Treasury minister, said the Government does not agree with the Ombudsman's approach 'to injustice or to remedy'. Speaking in the Commons, Ms Long Bailey argued that 'cost does not need to be and should not be a barrier to justice', as she urged the Government to introduce a wealth tax to fund a compensation scheme. The MP for Salford said: 'I don't want (Mr Bell) to go down in history as the man who denied justice for the 1950s women, I honestly don't. I want to see action on this, and I want him to go down as the person who finally, finally managed to award them justice. 'But at the moment, he's got to understand that the arguments being put forward by the Government are absurd, to say the least. In fact, they're akin to somebody arguing that the world is flat, in denying the Ombudsman's report.' Waspi campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London (Haixin Tan/PA) Earlier in her contribution, the former Labour leadership candidate, who had called the debate, disputed the Government's assertion that the women knew the change was coming. She said: 'Whilst the Government agreed with the finding of maladministration and apologised, no redress would be forthcoming. 'And contrary to the Ombudsman, they actually felt that the majority of women did know about changes to their pension age, based on Department for Work and Pensions research, and that sending the women letters would not have been effective, which I'm sure most people would agree is bizarre. 'It's pretty effective when a bill addressed to you coming through your door comes through, it's pretty effective when it's a hospital appointment, it's pretty effective on the very rare but joyous occasion that HMRC gives you a tax rebate cheque. 'So, I ask, honestly, would 1950s-born women have actively refused to open letters with their name on from the DWP? It makes no sense.' Ms Long Bailey went on to say: 'In terms of options to make sure that schemes could be financially sustainable, Waspi have calculated that HM Treasury have saved a whopping £181 billion alone by increasing the state pension age. 'Well, there's other options, there's the option of applying a 1% to 2% wealth tax on assets over £10 million, raising up to £22 billion a year. Equalise capital gains tax with income tax rates, raising £15.2 billion a year. Apply national insurance to investment income, raising £8.6 billion a year. 'End stealth subsidies on banks, and you get up to £55 billion over the next five years, and even Gordon Brown has advocated for this. So cost does not need to be, and should not be, a barrier to justice.' During the debate, Independent MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell joked that the Government would soon be proscribing the Waspi group. On Wednesday, MPs supported legislation to proscribe the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organisation. Mr McDonnell said: 'I pay tribute to the campaign. A lot of those ladies have been patronised over the years, it was a terrific campaign. In fact, it was so terrific under this Government at the moment, they would probably be proscribed.' Responding to the debate, Mr Bell said: 'We agree that letters should have been sent sooner. We have apologised, and we will learn the lessons from that. 'However, as honourable members and campaigners on this issue are well aware, we do not agree with the Ombudsman's approach to injustice or to remedy.' He added: 'An important consideration when making this decision was that evidence showed that sending people unsolicited letters is unlikely (to) affect what they knew, which is why letters are sent, but they are sent as part of wider communication campaigns. 'This evidence was not properly considered by the Ombudsman. 'Another consideration was that the great majority of 1950s-born women were aware that the state pension age was changing, if not their specific state pension age.'
The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Labour peer died while swimming in River Wye, police say
Labour peer Lord David Lipsey has been found dead after swimming in the River Wye, police have said. Officers were called to the River Wye in Glasbury on Monday following concerns about the safety of a man who was last seen swimming in the river. Dyfed Powys Police have now confirmed the body of Lord Lipsey was pulled from the river on Tuesday following a multi-agency search. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer led tributes from the Labour Party, saying the peer 'worked tirelessly for what he believed in' and will be 'sorely missed' by all who knew him. Lord Lipsey, 77, who previously worked as a journalist and Downing Street adviser under then prime minister Jim Callaghan, entered the Lords in 1999. He is also credited with coining the phrases 'New Labour' and 'winter of discontent'. A police spokesperson said: 'Dyfed-Powys Police received a report concerning the safety of a man who was last seen swimming in the River Wye, Glasbury. 'Following a multi-agency search on July 1, sadly, we can confirm the body of Lord David Lipsey was recovered. 'His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. 'They have asked for their privacy to be respected.' Paying tribute, Sir Keir said: 'David was loved and respected by so many. 'Whether it was his early years as a researcher and adviser, or his quarter of a century in the House of Lords, he worked tirelessly for what he believed in. 'He will be sorely missed by all who were fortunate to know him, in Parliament and beyond. 'My thoughts are with his wife, Margaret, and their family and friends.' Lord McFall of Alcluith, the Lord Speaker, said the upper chamber extended its 'condolences to the noble Lord's family and friends'. In the 1970s, Lord Lipsey served as a special adviser to Labour minister and diarist Anthony Crosland and on the staff at 10 Downing Street under Prime Minister Jim Callaghan, later Lord Callaghan. He also worked on The Sunday Times, New Society and The Economist and co-founded the short-lived Sunday Correspondent in 1988. He was awarded a life peerage by former prime minister Tony Blair in 1999. Lord Lipsey was also a fan of greyhound racing, chairing the British Greyhound Racing Board (now called the Great British Greyhound Board) between 2004 and 2009, and worked to get dogs rehomed at the end of their careers.
New Statesman
34 minutes ago
- New Statesman
The revenge of Labour's soft left
Photo byThe soft left has always had problems of definition. It's possible to label, not inaccurately, some fairly disparate sets of people and organisations as 'soft left'. You can slice it up, quibble and make arguments (if I had known just how long I'd spend arguing about the nature of the soft left before I came to the UK a decade ago, I'd probably have moved to a different country). Some might go in for a biblically accurate soft left including only those who abstained in the second round of the 1981 deputy leadership race; others might talk about the afterlives of Charter 88, or about Open Labour and the strange position of the soft left under Corbynism. But, as Keir Starmer, learned this week, even without definition, the soft left have the capacity to be a powerful and dangerous force. At the end of the day, the soft left is, broadly, the median position of the Labour Party, particularly that of the membership (there is a reason why 'soft left' cabinet ministers top LabourList's member polls every time). It's the people who aren't Blairites or Corbynites, the big middle. They would like things to be fairer, like public services and public ownership, are pretty socially liberal. But they're realistic about the latent radicalism (or lack thereof) of the British voting public. As a grouping it is large and vague and, suitably, probably its most representative avatar within the parliamentary Labour Party in recent years has been the Tribune group of MPs – which is large and vague and not particularly active. Despite the soft left's centrality within the party, the drama of Labour politics often happens around, rather than through, this middle politics. I think this is in part due to the fact that, as John Denham highlighted in his excellent Renewal article on the nature of the soft left, it's the faction of the party that has never flirted with new or other parties to either the left or right. The soft left isn't flouncing anywhere in a fit of pique. They're just doing, and just want, normal Labourism. Harnessed, however, the power of the middle of the party is formidable indeed. Keir Starmer should know this, because it's basically what he did in his 2020 leadership campaign to great effect. It's also generally thought of as being the Prime Minister's own political home, as a student Trotskyist turned 2015 Andy Burnham voter. Instead of the conscious, positive appeals of that campaign, in the first year of this Labour government the middle of the party has been antagonised into organisation by the leadership. They'll put up with a lot, but when you lose them, you're screwed. This process of antagonisation has come about through policy choices that the base transparently hate, and through a draconian party management stance on Labour's left. (And even parts of the soft left: in 2023 Compass director Neal Lawson's membership was investigated by the leadership over a tweet calling for voters to back Green candidates in local elections.) It's also come from out and out carelessness when it comes to the PLP, who on the whole don't appreciate being treated as mindless lobby fodder you can occasionally threaten if you need to. There's also No 10's habit of briefing overt contempt for unserious 'garden variety liberal left[ies]' – in other words, the most of the Labour Party. As a friend observed to me recently, the general attitude has been: what if you do, actually, catch more flies with vinegar? An antagonisation-to-organisation pipeline was apparent to anyone who made their way to Compass conference at the end of May. Cross-party since 2010, Compass seems to be re-orientating itself towards internal Labour politics; Andy Burnham and Louise Haigh drew large crowds studded with Momentum types, instead of just the anti-monarchist pensioners who make up the organisation's default audience (pointing to a vindication of Alfie Steer's writing on better understanding – and overcoming – the divisions between hard and soft left). This process of soft left coalescing has now born fruit, in the form of an impressively slick rebellion-by-amendment which this week saw the government forced into a dramatic climb down over its welfare bill. The names on the amendment were not particularly surprising for anyone who is studying the party. The socialist campaign group; the pre-Corbyn soft left like Polly Billington; new intake trade unionist MPs like Antonia Bance and Laurence Turner; perennial wildcards like Stella Creasy and Rosena Allin-Khan; a significant portion of the Lisa Nandy for leader campaign (Louise Haigh, Sarah Owen, Vicky Foxcroft), though obviously not Nandy herself. There are also probably some interesting comments to be made about the gender splits going on. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe This amendment also featured quite a lot of new intake MPs who won seats the party had no formal designs on. These people are not dumb and have made the calculation that they probably won't win again and probably won't be promoted. They've realised they might as well be who they are – which is, for most people who came in through less carefully observed selection processes in less winnable seats, people of the broad soft left who do not want their legacy to be making life worse for PIP claimants. Keeping these people on side should have been easy. Do the Labour manifesto, don't say we live on an 'island of strangers'. With a broad soft left newly imbued with a sense of its own agency, party management for the leadership is not liable to get any easier. [See also: It's time for Starmer and Reeves to embrace the soft left] Related
