The pantomime of parliament has never looked more absurd. Every moment Labour's leadership 'look behind you!' antics continue is a moment that takes the party further from winning back its northern heartland councils and its Green London boroughs, writes John Rentoul.
State Opening Amidst Turmoil
After the Labour government has spent 48 hours tearing itself apart, parliament pauses today to focus on the day job: the programme of legislation planned for the next session. The ceasefire in hostilities – marked by an extremely brief meeting between Keir Starmer and his leadership rival Wes Streeting in Downing Street this morning – may come as a welcome relief to those voters who have been dismayed by Labour's apparent determination to copy the instability of the Conservative years.
Voter Discontent
When Labour's northern and Midlands heartlands voted for Nigel Farage's party last week, they were not asking the governing party to turn in on itself and fill the airwaves with speculation about Wes, Andy, Angela and Ed. And when large parts of Labour's urban graduate liberal base voted for Zack Polanski's party, they weren't asking for a backstabbing drama either. Both groups of voters want hope for the future and a government that feels as if it has a grip on the problems facing the nation, even if they have different views of what those problems are.
Instead they are going to get a worried-looking King reading out a list of bills, after the Palace checked yesterday that the prime minister who wrote the list would still be in place. Nobody minds a bit of pageantry, but the red and gold spectacle does seem rather detached from the ever-rising cost of living in Barnsley, Essex, Gateshead, Sunderland, Wakefield and Walsall – all councils won by Reform last week.
Badenoch's Balancing Act
And it will be followed by a ceremonial knockabout in the House of Commons. After two witty speeches from an old codger and a rising star on the Labour backbenches, it will be Kemi Badenoch's turn to speak in the debate on the King's Speech this afternoon. It is an opportunity for her, but it is also fraught with danger. Her great advantage in her struggle with Farage for the leadership of the right is that she has a bigger platform in parliament and is guaranteed media coverage, whereas he has to fight for the scraps.
It is a chance for her to try to make things worse for the prime minister by taunting him in front of his rebellious MPs. But she mustn't look as if she is gloating. She must look confident and as if she is enjoying herself but must avoid looking as if she thinks it is all a game. That is a difficult balance to strike. Her own MPs will be over-excited, screeching for her to humiliate Starmer and to crow over the wreckage on the benches opposite. She must disappoint her own side by lowering the boisterous tone and trying to match the mood of the country, which is impatient with politics as usual.
She has to avoid being too aggressive, because that will force Labour MPs to unite behind Starmer. She needs a 'more in sorrow than in anger' tone, and if she is sensible she will focus on the harsh but specific criticisms made of Starmer by Jess Phillips, the minister who resigned making detailed claims that the prime minister lacks the qualities needed to be successful.
Starmer's Plea
In his speech, which by convention follows that of the leader of the opposition, Starmer has a more straightforward task. He has to try to speak to the MPs behind him rather than the ones facing him. He has to explain to them that every statement from them calling on him to set a timetable for his departure is setting a timetable for Labour's departure from the concerns of the voters. Every moment the leadership pantomime ('Look behind you!') continues is a moment that takes Labour further from winning back its northern heartland councils and its Green London boroughs of Hackney, Lewisham and Waltham Forest. It may be too late for him to stop Labour MPs from peering over the abyss and deciding to throw themselves into it, but he owes it to the country to try.
