Even before Rosie Duffield’s flaming resignation letter, the Labour “freebies” row was running out of control. So what, you ask? Here’s what: if ever there was a moment which opened the door to the swamping of the old party system, possibly by Reform in five years’ time, this is it. Keir Starmer and his top team are furious about the false equivalence with Boris Johnson and the vengefulness of a media they have spent so long on their knees offering bouquets to.
So too are they angry about the deep intrusion into a family who never asked to stand on a public balcony. Duffield has been at loggerheads with the party leadership for ages, but too many voters will recognise her molten anger: “Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering [..
.]. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.
” Let’s get back to the serious stuff, ministers say, to transforming the lives of ordinary people. Write about NHS reforms being brought in by Wes Streeting, they insist; write about the Budget if you must. But this? It’s chaff.
It blows away. Unfortunately, self-righteous anger is the wrong response to these revelations. It grossly underestimates public damage being done, and has so far offered no way of hosing down the firestorm of this story.
Labour is right to be angry about the intentions of some of those who are pushing the story. Robert Jenric.