Gift-wrapped power

Ben Wildsmith

Less than a week after the English electorate made it clear that the Conservative Party was about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit, Sir Keir Starmer responded by adding a little more Tory to his Labour offering.

This time the newcomer is Natalie Elphicke, the MP for Dover. There is a tradition of Tory MPs jumping ship when it starts to list, but these have generally been from the One Nation end of the party, the ‘wets’ as Margaret Thatcher dubbed them.

Nowadays, of course, there is no One Nation end of the party so all that remains are different flavours of Brexity. Even in that context, however, Elphicke, who succeeded her ex-husband as candidate for Dover following his conviction for sexual assault, is considered a right-winger by ‘Brexit hardman’ Steve Baker, the Minister of State for Northern Ireland.

‘I have been searching in vain for a Conservative MP who thinks themself to the right of Natalie Elphicke,’ he tweeted after her defection.

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Suspension

She previously made the headlines for receiving a suspension from the Commons for attempting to influence the judge during her husband’s trial.

None of this, however, is considered any bar to her joining the Labour Party as it is today.

Her decision was announced moments before PMQs and allowed Sir Keir an unmissable opportunity to skewer wretched Rishi.

His point, that the country needs an election because the Government cannot rely on the support even of its own MPs is indisputable.

The price he is willing to pay for these moments of triumph, however, may prove to be higher in the long term than he appreciates.

You will have noticed, thanks to the work of this vigorous organ, that our own Labour supremo has not got off to the best of starts.

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Greasy pole

As Vaughan Gething begins to slide down the greasy pole he has so tenaciously, and recently, clambered up, it is telling how few voices are being lent to his support.

The allegations against him are serious, for sure, but not of the Jeremy Thorpe dog-shooting order usually required to shake the political class from self-serving loyalty.

Gething’s problem, as much as the accusations surrounding him, is his political emptiness. When scandals arise, a politician needs to be able to point to his principles and ask those around him, ‘Are you willing to throw away all this good stuff we believe in over this temporary embarrassment?’

What, of that sort, can Gething stand on? For which crucial reforms is he the driving force? What of substance will Labour, as a whole, be losing if he goes?

Now, think a few months past the honeymoon of a Starmer victory and apply the same test to him. His current strategy is to position Labour so that it wipes the Tories off the map.

To do that he has reversed not only the commitments he made to Labour members, but even subsequent pledges to the wider electorate.

Only this week, union leaders are warning that his flagship workers’ rights charter is poised to be watered down.

Messy

All governments become embroiled in scandal. Their work is messy, compromised, and done in a rush.

From the moment they assume office they need to be able to rely on the benefit of the doubt and, ultimately, the forgiveness of those who share their fundamental principles.

Labour, at the moment, seems to have one fundamental principle, which is to achieve power. When that is achieved, most likely without any external threat for many years, around what will its leadership inspire loyalty?

By glad-handing right-wing Tories, diluting policies, and prevaricating on issues of international morality, Starmer is weakening his own position as he piles up votes.

We know a thing or two about Labour hegemony here in Wales and it can be an ugly business.

As the First Minister discovers the limits of gift-wrapped power, the putative Prime Minister should take note.