‘How Rapidly the Labour Government Has Been Disowned by the Liberal Left is Self-Indulgent and Irresponsible’

Keir Starmer has made more right calls than wrong – but his critics are too quick to forget the corruption and chaos of the Conservative Governments that came before him, writes Chris Grey

The Labour Government has been in power for less than a year but it seems many on the liberal left have already written it off. But there is a good case to be made that, on the big calls, Keir Starmer has got things right more often than wrong in deeply difficult circumstances.

Following last July’s General Election, Starmer was immediately faced with the crisis of the summer riots, which he dealt with quickly and effectively while labelling them as the far-right thuggery that they were. There was no equivocation and he refused to bow to the attacks that came from him doing so, whether domestically or from Elon Musk.

Musk’s interventions on his social platform X segued into the next crisis: that of the major international turmoil of Donald Trump’s second term. Here, too, Starmer has been robust in standing against Russia, for Ukraine, and seeking to build a pan-European military response.