𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

There’s a stench lingering around the Prime Minister, and the resignation of his top aide has only made it worse. As Sir Keir Starmer staggers through the corridors of Westminster, issuing denials and telling everyone how terribly angry he is, his own backbenchers are not-so-subtly sharpening their daggers and muttering about succession.

Even the last minute punting of his right-hand-man, Morgan McSweeney, can do little to stop what everyone knows is coming: Sir Keir Starmer will soon be out of a job. I would be moved to feel sorry for him, if it wasn’t all so thoroughly his fault. The Mandelson scandal has utterly destroyed him. Not because the appointment was questionable at best – plenty of those unfortunately occur in politics – but because Sir Keir knew about the Epstein connection and chose to overlook it.

That alone should be a disqualifying obscene scandal that strikes any ruler from office. A basic understanding of right and wrong is surely a paramount requirement of any who hold office? Certainly, a cursory look at the history books will show it is not – politics and morality do not make decent bedfellows – but we can at least try and want better?

But it is not some sort of sudden renewed push for standards that is what places Sir Keir’s job at risk. It is politicians doing what they do best: keeping an eye out for their own self-preservation and interest. There is a by-election in Manchester in a matter of weeks, and council elections thereafter.

MPs on his own benches will be looking to see the results, as a barometer for just how badly Sir Keir is seen by the public. And already the ground is being laid, David Lammy, Angela Rayner and a slew of MPs have spoken against their own boss, smiling like alley cats as they circle waiting to pounce.

It is easy to see why – trust in the Prime Minister is shot, and he showed devastatingly bad political acumen (let alone lacklustre moral fibre) to boot. He has done quite literally nothing to see off talk of resignation. That makes him weak, and in our backstabbing political climate, weakness is fatal. The only question now is whether he jumps or waits to be pushed. Either way, he is done.

But here is where the real worry begins. What comes next?

An election would plunge Britain into weeks of paralysis and indecision at a moment when the world can scarcely afford it. Markets would wobble and international partners would wonder again whether Britain was a serious country. And for what? A General Election could deliver a hung parliament, the most useless of democratic outcomes, leaving us with coalition haggling and fighting one another – so little different from now.

Or it could usher in Reform. Nigel Farage would be delighted, naturally, but scratch beneath the populist slogans and you find precious few actual policies. Reform has not thought through how to run a country. They have thought through how to complain about one. There is a rather large difference.

The alternative is a Labour leadership contest. Great, but who are the contenders? David Lammy, the former Foreign Secretary, whose primary skill extends to looking moderately confused when asked basic questions. Mr Lammy would be a useless Prime Minister, he has the gravitas of a student union president and the policy instincts of someone whose main plan consists of opening a new ATM in the student forum.

Angela Rayner? She has her tax issues hanging over her like Banquo’s ghost. Good luck selling integrity in public life when that particular skeleton rattles in the cupboard every time she moves.

Wes Streeting? The Health Secretary was close to Mandelson himself – no matter how quickly he took those pictures down from social media. The damage there is done. Appointing him would solve nothing.

The Labour frontbench is a wasteland of mediocrity and not one of them inspires confidence. Not one of them looks remotely like a Prime Minister. Yet one of them may well become exactly that, simply because Sir Keir has spectacularly imploded.

So this is where we are. A finished Prime Minister clinging on and an election that could deliver chaos. Or a Labour coronation of someone manifestly unfit for office. We deserve better but I fear we will not get it.

Sir Keir has destroyed himself. The tragedy is that he may well take the rest of us down with him.