Starmer ‘took responsibility’ for the loss of over 1200 council seats by more or less saying he’s going to carry on in exactly the same way as he has done for the last two years, that is to say, with mind-numbing timidity and an overdose of caution.
Even when he was threatened with a leadership challenge unless he was bolder and acted with more urgency, he could not bring himself to offer any substantial or radical change of tack.
Starmer talked the talk, but simply can’t walk the walk. He acknowledged the frustrations and said, “In terms of the policy challenges that our country faces, incremental change won’t cut it. On growth, defence, Europe, energy. We need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024.”
Did he announce what that ‘bigger response’ was or might be? Errr…No.
Labour, Starmer said, “will face up to the big challenges and we will make the big arguments. The Labour case that only Labour values and Labour policies can ensure our country, not only weathers these storms, but emerges stronger and fairer.”
But the big arguments were notably, and for me, irritatingly, completely absent.
He admitted that people were “tired of a status quo” and that for them, “change cannot come quickly enough.” He gave three examples of these changes where voters will see “hope, urgency, and exactly whose side we are on reflected in everything we say, and everything we do.” Two were nationalising British Steel, and for young people, expanding apprenticeships plus a nebulous program called Pride in Place, to “back the millions of people who give their time and their effort to young people in their community.”
I think both would have been instantly forgotten. The third was on Europe, where you might have expected something really dramatic to differentiate Labour from Reform UK. It was an opportunity to denounce Brexit (which he did) and reveal he was ditching his red lines on joining the EU customs union or the single market. That was the scale of ‘change’ needed.
Starmer, in my opinion, over Europe, could easily use John Maynard Keynes' quote about, "when the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?" He could substitute circumstances for 'facts' and plausibly argue that the tiny incremental benefits he is trying to negotiate with Brussels will help, but cannot satisfy the growing impatience in Britain for Brexit to be reversed. However, he didn't.
What he did announce was almost laughably disappointing:
“This Labour Government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe by putting Britain at the heart of Europe so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence, you name it.”
"Because standing shoulder to shoulder with the countries that most share our interests, our values, and our enemies, that is the right choice for Britain. That is the Labour choice. And for our young people, also something more. Because Brexit snatched away their ability to work, to study, and to live easily in Europe."
I never thought I would accuse Starmer of delusion, but thinking we can be at the heart of Europe while rejecting membership of the EU, the SM, and the CU is plainly silly.
I’m afraid at that point, I lost faith in him ever recognising the problem, let alone addressing it. I really don’t wish him ill, but I’ll be glad to see the back of him. The next few weeks threaten to be an abject humiliation for Starmer. If he fails to become one of the last two candidates put to Labour members, and there is every prospect of that happening, it will be a crushing defeat.
It appears his main challengers in any leadership contest are Wes Streeting and, assuming he gets through the Makerfield by-election, Andy Burnham. Both are pro-EU. Streeting was refreshingly open at his press conference yesterday, describing Brexit as a "catastrophic mistake." He said the hitherto unsayable in Labour circles: “Britain's future lies with Europe – and one day back in the European Union.” Burnham has been less open, but I am quite certain Brexit will figure strongly in the coming debate, forcing the subject back into the headlines.
The by-election is a high-stakes game for all, particularly for Burnham and Farage. If Burnham can’t win in what for him is home turf essentially against a man who secretly took £5 million from a crypto billionaire who doesn’t even live in this country apparently as a reward for damaging this country with a disastrous Brexit and in 2024 was all set to fly to the USA to campaign for the deeply unpopular Donald Trump, he, Labour and the United Kingdom are truly lost.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy doesn't think anyone in this country wants to reopen the Brexit debate, despite poll after poll showing a two-thirds majority think it was a mistake and want to rejoin:
Lisa Nandy: “I don't think anyone in this country wants to reopen the Brexit debate.”
— Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) May 12, 2026
The Country: pic.twitter.com/zYYIsjImDz
She's totally wrong about that, as all the polling over the last five years has shown.
The coming crash
Nearly twenty years after the 2008 financial crisis, there are growing signs we are headed for another one. The FT has a warning that the markets are strangely exuberant, with the S&P 500 index of US stocks having pushed some 18% higher since the start of the Iran war. Other indicators show the same pattern.
The partying cannot last forever, and sooner or later, everybody has to wake up with a headache.
If governments around the world have to yet again bail out banks that have lent billions in risky tech investments on AI and Data Centres, it will be another travesty. Richard Murphy believes a crash is now inevitable.
What a mad world we're living in.
