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In the past 45 years, the UK has had 10 Prime Ministers. The split goes like this: there were five PMs in the first 36 years, then five PMs in the last nine years.
Brexit brought many things to this country, and one of them was a taste for political chaos. The manoeuvrings at the top of the Conservative party were constant – it felt like every other week there were murmurings about how many letters of no confidence had been sent to the 1922 Committee.
This sort of thing was deeply exciting to political journalists and others in the Westminster bubble. To the public, it was pretty exhausting.
When Sir Keir Starmer swept to power last year, he did so with a promise of stability and commitment – a decade of national renewal, he said.
Rumours of challenges to his leadership have been circulating for ages. Of course they have. The guy became deeply unpopular incredibly quickly and we’re all attuned to the ‘musical chairs’ system we saw under the Tories.
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Those rumours exploded into view yesterday evening with very little warning, with figures inside No 10 briefing several top reporters that Health Secretary Wes Streeting was preparing to launch a leadership bid after the Budget and Starmer would fight it resolutely.
Predictably, those of us in Westminster have leapt on it like a school of piranhas. The juiciest story is always a change at the very top. Bookies have released their odds on the next person to lead the country, with Streeting and Nigel Farage now sharing the top spot.
(As a side note, in 2018 Wes Streeting was asked who he thought would be PM in ten years’ time. After a long pause, he said… ‘It’ll probably be me.’)
Should Sir Keir Starmer be replaced as Prime Minister
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Yes, a change is needed.
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No, there’s too much chaos as it stands.
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I don’t know
What does this mean for you? Very little, obviously.
It appears to be the same old merry-go-round of gossip and backstabbing that everyone grew tired of over the past ten years, perhaps lending credence to the view that’s so fatal to Labour: that all of them are just the same.
Amid all the chatter online, I focused on a pair of posts from two individuals: one who deeply understands the public and one who deeply understands the game of politics.
Luke Tryl, the director of polling company More in Common: ‘Hard to think of a more perfect example of why so many people are now thinking, whatever the risks we may as well roll the dice on Reform/the Greens/someone else because it’s perma chaos as it is.’
And Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary: ‘For heaven’s sake just get on with governing.’
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