This morning began predictably enough: the government briefing rooms at No 10 reverberating to the sound of hurried footsteps, whispered cautions, and meticulously noncommittal statements. First, David Lammy had committed what in contemporary Westminster passes for a grave political sin, clarity. As reported by The Guardian, Lammy stated unequivocally that Israel’s breach of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, resulting in over 400 Palestinian deaths, constituted a clear violation of international law. This immediately triggered a crisis of nerve among his colleagues. Barely an hour later, Downing Street issued its qualified non-support, with a spokesperson carefully stating that Israel was merely “at risk” of breaching humanitarian law, despite Lammy’s clear and decisive assertion. As if the dead were a matter for slow jurisprudence rather than urgent moral clarity.
Then came Liz Kendall, entrusted with the grim task of announcing Labour’s £5 billion assault on welfare benefits, primarily targeting those deemed least able to resist. She assured the Commons, with a straight face that spoke volumes, that it was all very necessary, a prudent and measured response to fiscal realities, ignoring the lived realities of those about to suffer the cuts. Disability charities quickly condemned the move as immoral, but immorality has long ceased to be a reliable deterrent for policy.
In the Commons corridors, MPs I’m sure will have expressed ‘deep concern,’ though predictably only in private. Open rebellion remains, for now, unthinkable. The deeper irony is that Labour, having meticulously distanced itself from its austerity-tainted predecessors, now finds itself deploying precisely the same arguments, the same language of necessity that once rang so hollow when voiced by their opponents. One might reasonably ask: whatever happened to Labour’s rhetoric about fairness, about taxing those with the deepest pockets? The party leadership, driven by political calculations inscrutable to most of us, appears comfortable balancing its books on the backs of those least capable of bearing the weight. Labour appears unable, or perhaps unwilling, to heed the cries from the TUC, Citizens Advice, disability charities, or even from former Labour shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
Where, exactly, does Labour imagine this policy will play well? Certainly not with the opposition benches. The Tories are increasingly irrelevant, while Farage and Reform stand ready to make mischief. It seems that in contemporary Westminster, appearing fiscally responsible is fast becoming indistinguishable from political suicide.
One might expect, or at least hope, that such cruelty abroad and at home would inspire more than quiet dissent and handwringing behind closed doors. But Starmer’s government seems secure in its assumption that principle can always be sacrificed quietly enough to escape meaningful scrutiny. Perhaps, after all, they are right.
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