Keir Starmer began his tenure as the Labour leader by promising to cooperate with the government. Now the Conservative poll lead is slipping and Starmer looks to make gains, his politicking is as transparent as it is dangerous.
This week, Starmer told the Guardian that future deaths as a result of the Coronavirus could almost literally be laid at the feet of Boris Johnson:
This after Starmer had spent the previous weeks backing the easing of the lockdown, and revealing his own child had been attending school throughout this turbulent period. Yet having steadfastly backed the measures, he now flees the battlefield and blames the general the moment risk returns.
It's particularly stinging for Starmer to blame the PM for any potential rise in the R rate at this time, not least because Labour MP's have been publicly boasting of breaking social distancing rules.
While the Prime Minister used his daily press conference to urge calm, and called for social distancing at these gatherings, Starmer has said nothing to help quell this latest threat to public health. Instead he's doubling down, punctuating his social media feeds with anything that can associate Boris with deaths. It is a ghoulish strategy.
The truth is, Keir has been playing this game from the start. His promises to help and cooperate were toothless. He is not a doctor, or a scientist, nor a care worker. He is the leader of the Labour Party. That's it. He has no power, no means to effect change, and no knowledge with which to advise.
Keir set about looking collegiate to win over the mood of the country, a country he knew was looking for unity. But now the going gets tough, Starmer aint going. Instead, he's blaming. It's sad to see in an unprecedented crisis that our opposition can't put politics to one side, especially when the election is 4 years away.
Boris is not unaware of the slow motion ambush he has walked into. He's clearly angry, as yesterday's PMQ's demonstrated:
The political ceasefire is over. Both men will clash, I predict, with increasing venom. But that this had to happen now, in the midst of a pandemic, shows Keir Starmer more than anything is a game player. He knew how to win the Labour Leadership. Can he win the country?
