Is Starmer Doing A Good Job?

Illustration by Will Allen/Europinion

Hold onto your hats. This week, I’m going to praise Keir Starmer. Sort of. Before plunging back into Keir’s catastrophic reality.

Now that you’ve picked yourself up off the floor, after violently recoiling from your device in complete shock at this news, let me explain why.

I’m perfectly comfortable praising someone when I think, in the censored words of former Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, they’ve done a good job. Even though I firmly believe that Starmer has royally ruined Great Britain – breaking promises over tax hikes, impaling British farmers and picking the pockets of poor pensioners – he’s done a good job of standing up to Donald Trump.

Standing Up to Puppet Master Trump

They say a week is a long time in politics. I disagree. A handful of hours is a long time in politics if you choose your moment – and Keir Starmer has.

I ridiculed Starmer just last week, arguing he’s nothing more than Donald Trump’s puppet. I stand by the fact that Starmer’s increase in defence spending was poorly managed, poorly communicated and looked like the UK was being America’s lapdog.

But – and it is quite a big but – Starmer has dutifully stepped up to the mark ever since Trump and his vile Vice President JD Vance ganged up on Zelensky like a pair of bullies in a meeting broadcast to the world.

Naturally, I’m not willing to give Starmer all the credit. Optically, it doesn’t take much to look more reasonable than a fake-tanned man in a wig and the most memeable Vice President in history childishly and viciously destroying a Ukrainian President trying to save his country. To pass that test, all Starmer needed to do was turn up.

Similarly, I’m not about to declare Keir Starmer is no longer the puppet of Donald Trump. More than any other, this week has proven that things really can change in the blink of an eye. True to fashion, just as I began penning this article, two-tier Keir is back with a vengeance – with proposed guidelines making ethnicity or faith a bigger factor when deciding whether to jail an offender.

But – the second big but so far – for all his failings on British policy, I must applaud the way Starmer has handled the intensifying Russia-Ukraine situation.

Britain: Leading the Fight Against Putin

Pledging another £2.6 billion to Ukraine in weapons is, unfortunately, like bringing a knife to a gun fight – particularly when Ukraine no longer has the luxury of behemothic American tanks pointing towards Russia.

Again, today we hear that Britain has signed a £30 million deal to send attack drones to Kyiv. This sounds good, but I’m not sure how far £30 million will go. It might be enough to pick off one Russian tank at a time – so you’ll need a lot of drones to wipe out the whole lot.

Having said all that, at least Starmer’s doing something. It could be worse. He could’ve pulled his country’s military support for Ukraine altogether. What sort of fool would do that?

Of course, Starmer is benefitting from the ‘rallying around the flag’ effect. It’s human nature that, when our security is under threat, we rally around our leader to keep us safe. It’s why Volodymyr Zelensky’s approval rating jumped to 90% after Putin invaded Ukraine. And it’s why Keir Starmer is now enjoying a… wait for it… -28 net favourability rating. Rejoice! Keir just became a tiny bit less hated.

And here lies the problem.

I am perfectly comfortable praising Starmer’s handling of the Ukraine War and Donald Trump. He’s done well and I take my hat off to him.

But – and here’s the third, and by far the most gargantuan, but of this article – it’s extremely difficult to pat a man on the back for helping Ukraine when he’s crippling our own country.

Domestic Failings: Starmer’s Achilles Heel

Inflation has jumped up to 3%.

The economy has grown a total of 0.1% in Starmer’s first six months in charge.

Throw into the mix Winter Fuel Allowance cuts freezing out our grandparents, a NI hike that’s slashing jobs and a family farm tax to leave us with no food on our tables, and you arrive at one conclusion. 

Starmer is killing the UK.

Frustratingly, people’s political memories are short – precisely because a week is indeed a long time in politics, since things move so quickly. It means Starmer can hide his hateful domestic policies behind leading the charge against Putin.

That’s exactly what’s happened this week, as Rachel Reeves is set to slash billions off the welfare budget – but you won’t have noticed because you’re too fixated on Trump. What better time to announce the official return of austerity than when the most powerful man in the world is hogging the headlines for all the wrong reasons? There’s nothing like a bit of drama to cloak and dagger some unpopular policies.

Is Starmer Doing a Good Job?

No.

Yes, Starmer is handling Trump well. I’m not even ashamed to say that because it’s what I genuinely believe.

But I refuse to be caught under the spell of a wartime boost.

Keir, we have not forgotten what you did to the pensioners. We have not forgotten what you did to businesses, working families and British farmers. And we won’t forget that it will be your government, wreathed in hypocrisy, that welcomes the return of austerity.

Image: Flickr/Number 10 (Tim Hammond)

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