Starmer’s tough stance on Russia and anti-semitism
Tipping Corbyn overboard
“IN CASE THE prime minister has not noticed, the Labour Party is under new management,” Sir Keir Starmer, the party’s leader, declared in the House of Commons. Showing that a party has changed is a tricky but essential task of opposition politics. It requires jettisoning stances that are prominent and unpopular with voters, but without declaring war on the party’s most loyal supporters. That Jeremy Corbyn, the previous leader, became best known for tolerating anti-semitism in the party ranks and for defending Vladimir Putin is to the Labour Party’s discredit, but it has made Sir Keir’s task of differentiating his regime from the previous one unusually easy. In a few hours before lunchtime on July 22nd, he demonstrated the vigour with which he is pursuing this end.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Man overboard!”
Britain July 25th 2020
From the July 25th 2020 edition
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