Unaffordable

Nigel Farage’s plans are expensive. Keir Starmer needs to say so, and have the policies to back it up

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Keir Starmer arrived in Downing Street promising to end what he called the chaos — the self-dealing, the neglect of the public sector and the instinctive promotion of party over country that had characterised much of the previous three governments. He has failed, not for want of good intentions but for want of guiding principles persuasive enough to call his own MPs to order.

The moment of truth arrived in the last week of June. More than 100 MPs rebelled against welfare reforms on which the rest of his agenda depended if they were to be affordable. Not only has his authority failed to recover, it continues to atrophy as contenders to replace him manoeuvre for support. It’s hard now to find a significant figure in Westminster who believes Starmer will see out 2026 in No 10. At the same time, a consensus has formed that he has proved inept at politics and uninspiring as a leader, while Nigel Farage has trounced him on both fronts and is a likely future prime minister. But these two ideas — Farage as Pied Piper, Starmer as out-of-time snare drum ~ miss the real story.