Echo Comment: Has Starmer reached his end of days?
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, implicitly said there was something amiss when he repeatedly failed to tell radio interviewers that civil servant Sir Olly Robbins had been fairly dismissed by the prime minister, and there are reports that Tuesdayβs cabinet meeting was an extremely glum affair.
At Prime Ministerβs Questions, Labour MPs were not effusive in their support for the beleaguered PM, and this does now feel like the end of days. The story has been dominating the news agenda for nearly a fortnight and, with more people called to testify before MPs, it shows no sign of abating.
But how long those days are is anyoneβs guess. Mr Brash is understandably concerned that a third of council seats in his town are up for election in a fortnight and it is hard to see how anyone could cast a vote for Labour with any enthusiasm at all at the moment.
So May 7 could trigger the end of Mr Starmerβs days, but it wonβt solve Labourβs problems. Andy Burnham is not an MP and the popular Manchester mayor could not succeed as PM; Angela Rayner has yet to sort out her tax affairs and has yet to convince she could stride the international stage. Wes Streeting looks and sounds good, but has a wafer thin majority and is regarded as a protΓ©gΓ© of the dreaded Peter Mandelson, so he is tainted by association.
Plus, as the Tories showed, a change of leader brings a loss of legitimacy. Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak lacked the authority to do anything radical, and so Ms Truss was out in days and Mr Sunak floated along ineffectually until washed out in a rainstorm.
This scandal has been festering for so long that there are no easy ways out for anyone,Β including the country.