Beergate represents a great danger to Starmer’s leadership. But handled in the right way it could be his opportunity to show that his is a party that can be trusted by voters who have abandoned it since the days of New Labour. It might even be his ‘clause four moment’, one which allows Starmer to transform how the public regard Labour and be the springboard to victory at the next general election.
Last week’s local elections were good for Labour: they suggest it is on course to become the largest party in the Commons. But they were not good enough: much work remains to be done before Labour can form the next government without the help of other parties. Something is currently missing – and for that many blame Starmer’s worthy but uninspiring leadership.
As various focus groups confirm, many voters still don’t get the Labour leader. They might respect him but remain unsure what he stands for. To them he is an aloof and enigmatic figure, and given the absence of any firm, positive persona he is too easily characterised in the negative by Boris Johnson as ‘Captain Hindsight’ or even a ‘Corbynista in an Islington suit’.
As the vultures of right and left circulate above him while the Durham police investigate claims he breached lockdown rules, Starmer has decided to simply say he does not believe he has but will cooperate fully with officers. This is very much the approach adopted by Boris Johnson during his own partygate difficulties: but that has not worked out too well for the Prime Minister.
There is, however, another way. Starmer could decide to take control of the situation during the weeks it will likely take for the police to conclude their investigations by making a major speech on the issue of law and order, respect and trust in which he states he will resign should the police find he broke the rules.
He hasn’t anything to lose. It would be disastrous should Starmer try to remain leader after being fined. He has called for Johnson too many times to go so he would be plagued by calls that he is as much of a hypocrite as the Prime Minister. Whatever advantage Labour has accrued during partygate would disappear almost overnight.
But resigning means Starmer would hand over to his successor a party seen to believe in the rules and to have done the right thing – unlike Johnson’s Conservatives. And in stepping down with dignity, Starmer would evoke the line from MacBeth said of the Thane of Cawdor that, ‘Nothing in his life became him, like the leaving it’.
However, should the police exonerate Starmer he would be in an amazingly strong position to appeal to voters dismayed by Johnson’s leadership and Tory MPs’ reluctance to overthrow him. He could convincingly make the case that not all politicians are the same. For once in his leadership, Starmer needs to stop playing safe.
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