100 days of Labour: A Rough Transition from Opposition to Government

Keir Starmer outside Downing Street // Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Labour’s summer of love appears to have quickly morphed into a winter of discontent, and Keir Starmer is now discovering that the Prime Ministerial honeymoon period can be very short. 

Let us cast our minds back to July 5th, when the Labour party was riding the high of a 174 seat majority, and much of the country breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of finally having grown-ups in charge. But after four years playing the role of a disapproving headteacher at the end of his tether, delivering weekly tellings off to the Tory front bench, Keir Starmer has already found himself on the naughty step. 

Since the return of Parliament, Labour has implemented the means testing of winter fuel allowances for pensioners, overseen the early release of more than 1,700 prisoners in England and Wales, and undergone an internal coup d'Etat against the Machievellian in Civil Servant’s clothing - Sue Gray. And then the story broke that Starmer has received more freebies than any other MP, with gifts ranging from a box at the Emirates stadium to designer dresses for his wife, Victoria. 

Former Prime Minister Clement Atlee once said: “A Tory minister can sleep in ten different women’s beds a week. A Labour minister gets it in the neck if he looks at his neighbour’s wife over the garden fence”. And there may be truth in that. These seemingly endless recent headlines pale in comparison to some of the scandals faced by Tories over the last fourteen years. Should we really be equating Starmer’s son using a family friend's house as a place to revise for his GCSEs with the estimated £15 billion of taxpayer money lost to corrupt Covid contracts? But, it is also true that the Labour party faces a tough challenge in its transition from opposition to government. When on opposition benches, they feasted on Tory sleaze, forensically passing judgement on the ever failing, dishonourable party of government. But now, as the price for victory, Labour MPs' policies and personal lives, which will be endlessly scrutinised by politicians, pundits and the public, must be squeaky clean. Even Keir Starmer seems to be struggling with the change, addressing Rishi Sunak as ‘the Prime Minister’ several times in a recent PMQs. It seems old habits die hard.

But we, as the public, are also adjusting. Many don’t really know what to do with themselves now that the battle to ‘Get the Tories Out’ or #GTTO (the rallying cry of middle class centrist twitter, you know, the people who really love Taskmaster and Ian Hislop?) is over. Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell don’t quite pack the same punch on The Rest Is Politics now that they don’t have a new Tory scandal to tuck in to every week. But I fear that after fourteen years spent feeling lied to and betrayed by our governments, we simply don’t give politicians the benefit of the doubt anymore. It’s like we had a cheating ex and now eye everything our new partner does with suspicion and anger. Shouldn’t we just overlook a few free gifts, and understand that new governments must make hard choices after years of recession and crisis, and focus instead on the good things achieved thus far? Possibly, but then again, the British do love a good old moan.