Editorials

The Irish Times view on the British Labour Party: Keir Starmer’s gamble

If the opposition leader’s promise to resign if fined by police pays off, he will have done much, but not yet enough, to make his party electable

Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer at the Palace of Westminster ahead of the State Opening of Parliament in London on Tuesday. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

Tue May 10 2022 - 19:48

British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer's promise to resign if fined by police for breaking lockdown rules at an election event a year ago is a big gamble.

The party is confident it can prove that the election team worked through to 1 am, interrupting the work for a “permissible” curry and beer break – not a social gathering, it maintains, and certainly not a party. Starmer’s team will provide police with evidence from WhatsApp groups, including one set up for the visit, where tweets, scripts and video edits were being discussed until the early hours.

But the Durham police’s renewed investigation, egged on by the delighted Tories and right-wing press, may yet find against the party leader and force him to pay a price far in excess of that yet required of the 50 Conservatives and officials so far fined – none of them resigning – over the far more egregious partygate in Downing Street under a more severe lockdown.

Starmer’s offence may be seen as analogous to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s inadvertent attendance and slice of cake on his way to another meeting, but deemed, many say unfairly, to have warranted a fine.

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Starmer's resignation pledge does him credit. It makes him look bold and decisive, reinforcing his post-Corbyn branding as an upright and honourable, if dull, politician. He says he is determined to prove he has "different principles to the prime minister". And yet, as a reviving Labour tries desperately to minimise the event and contrast it with the partying culture in Downing Street, they are inevitably on the back foot. Defending and explaining, as Ronald Reagan used to say, is losing.

If the gamble pays off – best case, Starmer surviving and Johnson forced by the Sue Gray report or more fines to resign – the Labour leader will have done much, but not yet enough, to make his party electable. He will still need to rediscover a bolder vision for Britain to inspire a new generation to dump the Tories. A reputation for honour and competence is not enough.

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