Every Prime Minister suffers setbacks from what one holder of the office called “events.” But this is much worse. This exposes the fundamental weakness of Sir Keir Starmer.

The substance of the U-turn on welfare changes is bad enough. It poses a significant challenge to the PM’s credibility – and, by foregoing planned savings, it adds to an already substantial burden on the Chancellor’s budgetary plans.

Sir Keir Starmer pays for that first challenge through reputational damage. We will all pay for the second challenge through other spending curbs and possible tax hikes.

I have covered politics for the odd decade. I have witnessed missteps aplenty by leaders from each and every political party. However, the ineptitude displayed here takes some beating.

Read More:

Consider the PM’s demeanour. There he was at the NATO summit, promising a substantial increase in defence spending. Which, in itself, leaves some Labour MPs disquieted.

Asked about the growing insurrection over cuts to disability payments, he dismissed the complaints as “noises off”. Cue yet more anger from discontented backbenchers, furious that their genuine concerns for the disadvantaged were downplayed in such a fashion.

Then, inevitably changing tack, he conceded on Thursday that there would be talks with the dissidents, aimed at achieving a settlement in line with “Labour values of fairness.”

The rebels duly entered those talks. But many were privately asking themselves what happened to those “Labour values” when Ministers proposed a package of reforms which their own official advisers said would push a quarter of a million people into poverty, including 50,000 children.

For........

© Herald Scotland