Britain benefits from a serious opposition

The Prime Minister is riled up. The cause of his exasperation, which has given way to annoyance, is the leader of the Labour Party.

Week after week, Keir Starmer, with his forensic questioning style and laser-guided focus on the government’s weaknesses, is getting under Boris Johnson’s skin. Early on he homed in on the lack of attention on care homes at the start of the crisis. Since the Cummings scandal, he has raised the issue of the loss of trust in the government.

The government is going through a rough patch. According to YouGov it has suffered a 30 point decline in support since the start of the crisis in March — the worst of any in Europe. A poll by ConservativeHome revealed that Johnson’s personal approval rating has dropped 20 points among Tory supporters.

Starmer, a trained QC and former Director of Public Prosecutions with a consummate grasp of detail, is well suited to the moment. Johnson, who is used to playing to the gallery, cannot rely on the obsequious backbenchers behind him to create a wall of noise. Stripped of that human shield he is cross-examined by a highly adroit interrogator like a defendant in the dock.

Starmer has made a solid start. And yet the spectre of disgruntled Corbynistas remains, as does their propensity to undermine him. He understands that, at least for now, competence not ideology should be Labour’s priority. That view is not shared by the Momentum entryists who have largely ruled the roost since 2015. But he knows that trying to face them down in a 1980s Militant-style standoff would be a distraction. He has preferred instead to purge the old guard through his choice of shadow cabinet.

At present, the Labour Party’s belief in big government and public spending has been neutralised by the Conservative willingness to dole out cash. The government has paid the wages of millions of people through the furlough scheme and offered further support to businesses.

Even before Covid-19 had entered the lexicon, the Conservatives having secured a convincing parliamentary majority in December, underpinned by “red wall” seats in the North, were in line to spend billions on infrastructure as part of their levelling-up agenda. Boris has also ruled out austerity or the “A word” as he puts it. Therefore the eye-watering increase in government borrowing will inevitably have to be paid for via tax rises. That will not sit well with the tax-cutting fiscal hawks within the Tory party. It is easy to spend money but much harder to pay it back. Trouble lies ahead.

There are also reported rumblings of discontent in cabinet ranks as a result of the imposition of a “hub and spoke” model of government, in which key decisions are made by a quad of ministers comprising Michael Gove, Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab and Rishi Sunak — now extended to include Grant Shapps and Alok Sharma — as well as the PM himself. The rest are marginalised.

There is no upside for Labour in seeking to outspend the Tories. The more assiduous strategy is to simply appear credible. The public has kept faith with the government until recently. People instinctively hunker down in a crisis and want to back their leaders. However, while mistakes made on the way into lockdown such as tardiness in imposing restrictions may be forgiven, there will be no tolerance as we emerge from it.

Keir Starmer is well aware of this and chosen to absorb criticism from the left of his party for not being tough enough on the Tories. He has had to tread a fine line between appearing supportive and holding the government to account and is playing the long game. Given the next election is unlikely to come before 2024, this is a marathon not a sprint. He now appears to sense a creeping shift in the public mood.

Labour has a slog to get back to power just as the Conservatives once did. After its defeat at the hands of New Labour in 1997 the Tories got through three lacklustre leaders before they finally chose one that brought the party back to the centre and “detoxified” the Conservative brand.

The Labour Party has not won an election since 2005 and is now on its third leader since 2010. It has an electoral mountain to climb and it remains to be seen whether it will need a fourth leader to win. But for now, serious opposition has returned and our democracy is the better for it.