Starmer's Fall

The political Right on both sides of the pond will celebrate the fall of Keir Starmer. And while his fall marks no great sea change, the Right will mark the moment as a victory and one in which Labour has been weakened.

While all eyes are on Andy Burnham who is in the process of scheming his way to Number 10, the first question will be whether or not he can even hold things together long enough to avoid a snap election. To no one's surprise, there are already voices (such as Nigel Farage) calling for one, arguing that Labour has failed and the government is broken. It's a roll of the dice, but given the sorry state of British politics (soon 7 Prime Ministers in 10 years).

The post-Brexit crisis continues and is unlikely to end any time soon. Britain is trying to find its place within the Atlanticist framework - it's relationship with Washington and the place of NATO, as well as its standing vis-à-vis Europe. In many respects it's also struggling internally with its own identity.

All of these tensions are being exacerbated by Trump and the effects of MAGA on European politics.

I personally cannot think of any politician that I've admired, but Starmer in particular is worthy of no empathy. He certainly did not live up to his reputed namesake - the founder of Labour, Keir Hardie (1856-1915).

Starmer played a critical and deceitful role in taking down Jeremy Corbyn, his Labour predecessor - helping to foment the phoney Anti-Semitic campaign which was never about anti-Jewish feelings or beliefs, but rather criticism of Israel under Likud. Ironically, Starmer himself ended up having to criticise Likud and became a laughing stock for it and was rightly called out as a hypocrite.

He played the game, sold his soul, and now he too goes down in flames.

I would be baffled as to why anyone would weep for him or feel some kind of pity. He played a nasty game and this time when the music stopped - he had no chair. It's that simple. He is no longer of any utility to the power brokers and thus he's being dispensed with. Good riddance.