‘This government believes in equality and social justice,’ began Liz Kendall. Which government she was describing is anyone’s guess. I suspect that if you were to ask the general public what they thought the government believed in, ‘equality’ and ‘social justice’ wouldn’t even make the top 100 printable responses. 

The government were facing a backbench rebellion so great that even the cabinet – who, as anyone who has ever seen them give an interview can attest, have an appetite for humiliation which appears to be almost sadomasochistic – were having second thoughts

Kendall was at the House for the start of a monumental climb-down: think Hillary and Tenzing in reverse. The hapless one-time leadership candidate was now the face of the Starmer government as it explained why it was backtracking on its flagship welfare reforms. Kendall claimed it was........

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