The Tories took years of Westminster turmoil to reach their Liz Truss moment. It has taken Labour only two. Britain has a weakened prime minister, a fatally divided government and a shambolic House of Commons. No one beyond Keir Starmer’s looming rivals can seriously believe the cure lies in his immediate toppling.

There is no leader in waiting obviously superior to Starmer, certainly not his former health secretary, Wes Streeting. Out of naked ambition, he has ditched a critical job in an extraordinary display of cabinet nastiness. As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, suggests, the effect of a leadership change on the economy could be severe. Yet Westminster’s corridors are bubbling and seething, close to explosion. Something is very wrong with British politics.

Starmer is a victim of democratic circumstance. He has been faced with adverse opinion polls and a recent round of “midterm” local elections in England. These elections, which are nothing to do with Westminster, always tend to go against the party in power – if seldom so dramatically. The election results in Scotland and Wales were devastating, however.

Labour is also suffering from a Europe-wide collapse in conventional party loyalties. There were earlier signs of this. In the 2024 election, Labour’s popular vote under Starmer was actually........

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