Pity Sir Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting. The embattled Prime Minister must get through a King’s Speech against the backdrop of the Labour Party utterly despising him. And the Health Secretary must sit through the King’s Speech while preparing for a risky regicide that could kill off his own career. Tough dynamics to navigate. The least anyone can offer these poor souls, surely, is a decent cup of coffee to tide them through the hours ahead. Well, it would appear not.
At this morning’s highly anticipated showdown summit between the pair in No. 10 – briefed adorably by Downing Street as a mere coffee catch-up – Sir Keir afforded Streeting just 16 minutes of his time. The Health Secretary was in and out of there certainly more rapidly than Mr S can properly enjoy a flat white without guzzling it in a few gulps. The hasty timing hardly points to the start of repairing broken bonds…
To make matters worse, despite surviving Tuesday, the Prime Minister was this morning greeted with another hammer blow from some of his most cherished stakeholders: the unions. All 11 of them affiliated to Labour signed – yet another – letter demanding that a plan be put in place for a new leader in time for the next general election. Britain’s union barons declared:
It’s clear that the Prime Minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new Leader. This is a point where the future of the Party we founded will be debated and determined, and we are working closely as unions to shape a shared vision on policy, political strategy and economic policy that will re-orient Labour back to working people, so Labour do what it was elected to do: govern in the interests of workers.
Mr S thinks Sir Keir may need to upgrade from an espresso to a shot of vodka. Let’s at least indulge him with that.
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