Starmer's 'enemy within' is his failure to deliver change

It is often said that the best way for a politician to succeed is not by defining who they are but by defining their enemies.

- SIMON WALTERS

It worked for Margaret Thatcher with her stated “enemy within” – as she called miners’ leader Arthur Scargill. It worked for Tony Blair with his chosen enemy Saddam Hussein — until we found out Saddam’s threat was grossly exaggerated.

After a disappointing first 14 months in Downing Street, Sir Keir Starmer is trying to revive his fortunes at this week’s Labour conference with a similar tactic.

In describing Nigel Farage and Reform as “the enemy” and “racists” who would “rip Britain apart” he has deliberately raised the political temperature. There are many who will applaud him for this.

Regardless of what they tell pollsters in between elections, when British voters mark their cross on a real general election ballot paper, the winning party invariably comes from close to the centre, not one seen as extreme.

If, as seems likely, Reform pose the biggest challenge to Labour at the next election, Starmer figures the best way to deter people from voting for them is to demonise Farage as a latter-day Oswald Mosley.