The real Starmer has this week revealed himself: a Corbynista in a Blairite suit

Telegraph

15 hours ago

It's the spinelessness of it all that gets me. We knew Keir Starmer was weak. We knew it when he recorded a leadership pitch in 2020 that could have been directed by Ken Loach – only to emerge as some sort of budget Tony Blair impersonator in office.
Deep down, we knew what we were getting; no one could have seriously believed the Prime Minister, a self-professed socialist who served so willingly under Jeremy Corbyn wouldn't do exactly this to the country.
But did we think the capitulation would happen this quickly and under so little pressure?
After 14 years of Conservative calamity, which left a trail of broken promises in its wake, people could have been forgiven for hoping this self-styled beacon of 'stability and moderation' would at least try to fulfil his pledge of a 'government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by a determination to serve your interests'.
When he called, on the steps of Downing Street, for a 'return of politics to public service,' and vowed to 'tread more lightly on your lives', things were that bad that voters gave him the benefit of the doubt.
After the horror of Covid, the cost of living crisis, the embarrassment of Liz Truss's premiership, and record numbers of illegal immigrants arriving here by boat, they thought to themselves: well, it can't get any worse.
'Country first, party second,' Starmer vowed and people thought, maybe, just maybe, this respectable lawyer would put the needs of the electorate first.
But no. Instead we have ended up with something far worse than the Tories could ever muster. In Starmer, we have not just ended up with a Butlin's Blair but a cut-price Compo; a coward leading a craven cabinet.
Until now, I thought lily-livered Labour was best summed up by Starmer's complete inability to say whether he supported the US air strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.
Kemi Badenoch was unequivocal in her support of Donald Trump's attempts to ensure we can no longer be nuked by murderous mullahs hellbent on wiping Israel from the map along with any of her allies. So was Nigel Farage. It shouldn't be a difficult question for any politician with the faintest concern for the preservation of western civilization.
Still, handwringing Starmer struggled, calling for more negotiation with a regime that once described America as the Great Satan, murders women for removing their hijabs, throws gays off buildings and funds terrorist Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to kill Jews (and anyone else in their path).
So far, so invertebrate, and then, on Friday, Starmer took another step down the yellow brick road by giving an interview to the Left-leaning Observer, in which he expressed ' deep regret' for saying that Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers ' because of mass migration.
Insisting it 'wasn't right' to use 'that particular phrase' in a speech last month, despite No 10 previously insisting that he stood by his words, he said neither he nor his speechwriters had been aware that the remarks could have been interpreted as an echo of the language of Enoch Powell.
'I wouldn't have used those words if I had known they were, or even would be interpreted as, an echo of Powell. I had no idea – and my speechwriters didn't know either.
'But that particular phrase – no, it wasn't right. I'll give you the honest truth – I deeply regret using it.'
Have you ever heard such weapons-grade gaslighting? If it wasn't gutless enough to be backtracking on the speech, to then suggest that no one in No 10 considered that it might be a bit Rivers of Bloodish is an insult to anyone with even the most rudimentary understanding of British politics.
To make matters worse, Never Here Keir then went on to whine that he 'wasn't in the best state to make a big speech' because he'd just come back from a three-day trip to Ukraine. Boo hoo. Try being Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a week, you big sissy. Good grief.
The mea culpa came less than 24 hours after he agreed to water down his controversial welfare reforms to stave off a massive rebellion.
On Wednesday, covering for lesser spotted Starmer at PMQs, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner insisted that the Government would not back down on its proposals to cut nearly £5 billion from the welfare bill by limiting access to disability payments.
It took less than two days for Sir Keir to cave in, offering compromises that will wipe out at least a third of the savings the Chancellor had banked on making through welfare reform.
After the similarly feeble U-turn on the winter fuel allowance cuts, tax rises now look like a certainty come the autumn Budget.
So not only is the benefits bill going to continue to rise, working people are once again going to have to pay the price thanks to the inadequacy of our current administration.
Almost a third of all income tax revenue and National Insurance contributions are being spent servicing the nation's total welfare budget which has ballooned by £86 billion compared to a decade ago, totalling £296 billion in 2023-24, the last year for available data. But instead of tackling this behemoth on behalf of a nearly bankrupt nation, Starmer has opted to save his own skin. It's not just spineless, it's shameful.
We used to believe Britain under Blair was a Left-wing country. But how foolish that seems now, under his successor. Margaret Thatcher had created the conditions for people to work, to save, and to own their homes. People still believed in a 'hand up' and not a 'hand out'.
Look at us now, once again expecting the state to solve all our problems. Aspiration, entrepreneurialism, good old fashioned graft; all these courageous qualities have been quashed by pusillanimous, progressive politicians living in a fantasyland where there are no trade-offs, just ever more government spending funded by soaking 'the rich''.
And the worst of them all is socialist Starmer – a man with so little backbone he can't even stand up to his own MPs.