By not Stopping the Boats, pM is Signing his Political Death Warrant
Let's presume Sir Keir Starmer wishes to win the next election. Let's also presume he has no desire to be replaced as Prime Minister in the next year or two by Wes Streeting or Angela Rayner or anybody else.
He's a politician, after all, and political leaders enjoy power - Starmer more than the majority of, I would think. I likewise suggest that he's at least averagely smart, and ought to have the ability to weigh up the chances of any policy succeeding.
After the battles, compromises and humiliations involved in achieving high office, Starmer has no intent of throwing it all away. Why, then, does he reveal every sign of doing so?
On the single problem that might matter most to a bulk of citizens, he is speeding towards particular catastrophe, while denying himself any prospect of an escape route. I indicate the boats encountering the Channel.
Numbers of migrants doing the 21-mile journey are up by 42 per cent on the same duration in 2015. An analysis by The Times, using comparable modelling as Border Force, forecasts that 50,000 people will cross the Channel in little boats in 2025. That would be a yearly record - and a stonking ordeal for Sir Keir.
Peering into his mind, I reckon there are 2 primary possible explanations for his behaviour. One is that he is deluding himself. He actually believes numbers will come down once the steps he has taken start to work.
If Starmer still thinks that his policies - throwing hundreds of millions at the French authorities, improving intelligence and using enhanced law enforcement powers - will lower the numbers, that truly is the accomplishment of hope over experience. The other possibility is that he is currently starting poorly to realise that his stratagems will not bear much, if any, fruit. So he and the Government have chosen to pull the wool over our eyes. A deadly approach.
Let's presume Sir Keir Starmer wishes to win the next election. Let's also presume he has no desire to be replaced as Prime Minister in the next year or two by Wes Streeting or Angela Rayner or anybody else.
He's a politician, after all, and political leaders enjoy power - Starmer more than the majority of, I would think. I likewise suggest that he's at least averagely smart, and ought to have the ability to weigh up the chances of any policy succeeding.
After the battles, compromises and humiliations involved in achieving high office, Starmer has no intent of throwing it all away. Why, then, does he reveal every sign of doing so?
On the single problem that might matter most to a bulk of citizens, he is speeding towards particular catastrophe, while denying himself any prospect of an escape route. I indicate the boats encountering the Channel.
Numbers of migrants doing the 21-mile journey are up by 42 per cent on the same duration in 2015. An analysis by The Times, using comparable modelling as Border Force, forecasts that 50,000 people will cross the Channel in little boats in 2025. That would be a yearly record - and a stonking ordeal for Sir Keir.
Peering into his mind, I reckon there are 2 primary possible explanations for his behaviour. One is that he is deluding himself. He actually believes numbers will come down once the steps he has taken start to work.
If Starmer still thinks that his policies - throwing hundreds of millions at the French authorities, improving intelligence and using enhanced law enforcement powers - will lower the numbers, that truly is the accomplishment of hope over experience. The other possibility is that he is currently starting poorly to realise that his stratagems will not bear much, if any, fruit. So he and the Government have chosen to pull the wool over our eyes. A deadly approach.