Our friend Stephen Bush is getting stuck in again.
In this case it is George Robertson on defence, but what he is saying is really just the public version of what I hear so often from former New Labour leading lights about their contact with the government – that when it comes to actually matching rhetoric with policy commitment, Starmer never really delivers. (For its part, the government said it is “delivering” on its strategic defence review and increasing defence spending).
Will Robertson going public cause a chain reaction? What helps Starmer is that many people who will nod along to what Robertson says today fear that after him things will get worse, not better.
But one sign that this government is really starting to circle the drain will be if Labour grandees and power brokers who have had a similar journey – seeking constructive engagement before becoming frustrated – take a leaf out of Robertson’s book and say on the record that this is a government that writes cheques it doesn’t even try to cash.
Or as I always put it, a load of people with their own particular priorities want those fixed, while taking little account that everything is in the shit, not just their thing. The Government has already raised taxes to a level way higher than any of them had to demand of the electorate.
What are George Robertson (who I like and has a point about Defence, in isolation) going to do about it? Call for Andy Burnham or Nigel Farage to take over?