Toodle pip, Keir Starmer. If you had bored any more you’d have struck oil

June 23, 2026 — 3:30pm

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Britain is currently sweltering in a four-day heatwave. But the highest temperatures recorded are in Downing Street due to Keir Starmer’s political meltdown and Andy-Burnham-mania boiling over.

I first met Starmer when he was my legal-eagle husband Geoffrey Robertson’s junior at Downing Street Chambers. Yes, he was diligent, decent, calm and capable, but also a bit lacklustre. I would never have singled him out as prime ministerial material. Basically, if Starmer bored any more he’d strike oil.

The huge majority that swept him into office in 2024 was dubbed the “loveless landslide” as it was mostly due to a repugnance for Boris Johnson. After 14 years of toxic Tories, the electorate would rather have undergone a collective appendectomy with garden shears than vote another sleazy Tory into office. By the end, Johnson’s every promise prompted open guffawing. “Let me........

© The Sydney Morning Herald