Ahead of the Prime Minister’s address a number of Cabinet ministers are savouring the last full day of their party conference. Pat McFadden – Labour’s campaign co-ordinator and now the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – was in conversation with the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar this morning, enthusiastically recounting election night, lamenting the loss of Labour colleagues who lost their seats and talking political strategy. McFadden lauded the support of his wife, the deputy campaign director, throughout the election campaign – ‘without her it wouldn’t have happened – before describing his reaction to the exit poll. ‘Relief was the word,’ he admitted. ‘I didn’t jump around the kitchen or anything like that. The emotion was relief.’
But the usually measured man was not quite so softly-spoken on the subject of his political opponents. Indeed when an audience member quizzed the Labour strategist on the problem posed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, McFadden was quick to launch into a heated tirade about the right-wingers.
‘We need to take the fight to this force,’ he told his audience, raging:
The leader of that party has just parroted Kremlin propaganda over the Ukraine war when they’re engaged in a really tough fight for survival. He wants to undermine the model of the NHS – when we want to renew it and revive it for another generation. His conduct over the riots, when he was trying to make excuses for criminality, was totally irresponsible – when we were trying to support the police and the criminal justice system in restoring order on the streets.
Crikey. With a recent poll by J.L. Partners suggesting that one in four Labour voters is considering backing Reform, no wonder the Starmerite is a little touchy. Expect more Reform-bashing to come…
And perhaps McFadden should be wary of harping on about ethics and standards – given the frockgate scandal is continuing to generate headlines. On this issue, McFadden was a little less eager to speak out. How curious. Telling Crerar he had, in fact, bought the suit he was wearing himself, the Starmerite brushed over the freebie fiasco as fast as he could:
Look, he has declared everything on this. I do know that it was part of the campaign. He’s in the public eye for six weeks. Wahid has helped him in that regard… If the donation had been given in a different way, would people feel differently about it? I don’t know.
This is the same man who in 2022 slammed the Tories over Partygate for ‘not governing in your interests or thinking about your concerns’. It’s hard however to figure out how accepting over £16,000 worth of workwear is, er, governing in the nation’s interests. Rules for thee, but not for me…
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