The day after the general election, on 5 July, saw me heading to Downing St to witness a Labour Prime Minister taking power after 15 years of Tory government.
Somewhat sleep deprived, excited and emotional, with a mind full of every cliché for intense joy you might care to think up, I hauled a couple of bottles of real champagne (no cut price fizz for that new dawn) to share with old friends and any new ones I was hoping to meet whilst celebrating in Whitehall.
Nothing could dampen my ardour, not the hefty police presence standing between me and the entrance to Downing St, not the long wait before Keir Starmer’s arrival, not even the drizzly rain and, after all that, not even the disappointment of barely catching a glimpse of the cavalcade of cars swishing into Downing St. We cheered and drank the fizz, ending up in Parliament Square sharing another bottle or was it two?
Things were going to be different – no more scandals, hypocrisy, cronyism or dodgy deals, because Keir had committed to being honest and transparent with us, to govern with integrity, to put “country first, party second”, to serve, to renew our nation. Above all, to offer hope to a country where so many people struggle to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads or to be treated by a failing health service.
We thrilled to his words and we walked into the morning with him: “the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.”
How passionately had I defended Keir Starmer’s ‘changed’ Labour Party
The fallacies of hope! Just over two months later and the clichés have changed. Coming back to haunt me are the words of those who were disillusioned before the election: “All politicians are the same”, “Nothing to choose between them”, “They are all crooks.” How passionately had I defended Keir Starmer’s ‘changed’ Labour Party against such unjust platitudes and now I feel like a naïve idiot. How often had he spoken of the Tory party taking the country for fools and now it is happening again, but this time it’s the Labour Party, the party that was going to change things.
That Friday morning in July we were given hope, but since then we have been led only to expect hard choices and hard times ahead. If it’s not austerity Mark II, it is certainly hard to tell the difference. The two-child benefit limit is still in place and there are no plans anytime soon to abolish it, despite many in the Labour Party disagreeing, including former PM and leader Gordon Brown. The number of households affected by the limit has risen every year since it was introduced in 2017. Lyn Perry of Barnardos has called it “one of the biggest policy drivers of child poverty”.
More pain will be inflicted by the changes made to the winter fuel payment for pensioners, which have already gained parliamentary approval. This means that over two million of the poorest pensioners will not receive financial help this winter because they just miss out on pension credit. A million more are also entitled to the pay out, but for one reason or another have not so far applied for pension credit. They will now have to move quickly due to the speed with which this bill has been passed.
Add to this the fact that the cap for social care has already been scrapped with no viable alternative policy in place, plus the rumours that single person council tax discount is to be scrapped and the result is yet more hardship for those who are already vulnerable.
Red lines on the EU are counter-productive
If the economy is what it’s about and if Rachel Reeves is to be believed, then maybe Starmer could engender a ray of hope plus an economic upturn by contemplating rejoining the single market, a move which he has so far completely ruled out.
Despite overtures from the EU, he has also refused to consider a youth mobility scheme in Europe or the restoration of the Erasmus+ scheme for young people.
Special privileges for friends?
Finally, with so little on offer by way of the change that was promised, there is something so wrong about accepting thousands of pounds’ worth of clothing and accessories for both Starmer and his wife, whether or not he declared it at the right time, which he did not. Even worse is that Lord Alli was then given a pass to Downing St for most of August or until people found out.
To condemn cronyism in the Tory party as often as Starmer did and then to give a mate special privileges is not the best optic. Furthermore, why does a man who, as Laura Kuenssberg pointed out on her show, is certainly by no means broke, need a wealthy donor, Lord Alli, to pay for his wardrobe and that of his wife?
David Lammy’s lame excuses do not stand up to rigorous interrogation – if the American tax payer has customarily given Presidents and First Ladies clothing allowances that is their business. Anyway, given the state of this country’s finances, it would be unthinkable for us to fund Starmer and his wife’s designer suits, especially in view of his constant references to the £20 billion black hole in the economy.
Taking from the poorest
The rhetoric and policies might be bearable if we could believe as we did on that Friday morning that we were joining Keir Starmer in his project of national renewal, if we were really all in it together!
At the beginning of Cameron’s time in office, there were hollow words as we faced austerity, and they carry no ring of authenticity now, from a Prime Minister who appears willing to take from the poorest in society whilst accepting hand-outs from his immensely wealthy friends.
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