Having already presided over 14 U-turns in 19 months, when will Sir Keir Starmer execute his 15th?
The answer is unfolding before our eyes. It lies in the PM’s baffling decision to hand the Chagos Islands – a British Overseas Territory since 1814 and home to the strategically important UK and US military base, Diego Garcia – to Mauritius.
The much-criticised deal, which involves leasing back the base from the Mauritian government, is projected to cost the taxpayer £35 billion over 99 years.
Yet Labour‘s 2024 manifesto could not have been clearer: ‘Defending our security also means protecting the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, including the Falklands and Gibraltar. Labour will always defend their sovereignty and right to self-determination.’
So what, then, of the ‘right to self-determination’ of the Chagossians, 98 per cent of whom, shows a poll, want to remain British?
Graham Stringer, the Labour MP, tells me: ‘I know most people don’t read lengthy manifestoes but there it is on page 120. Another U-turn.’
The PM’s decision to hand the Chagos Islands – home to the strategically important UK and US military base, Diego Garcia – to Mauritius is baffling, writes Andrew Pierce
The much-criticised deal, which involves leasing back the base from the Mauritian government, is projected to cost the taxpayer £35 billion over 99 years
- Starmer’s local authority, Camden Council, has overturned its own planning officers’ scheme for a £5.6million housing development, despite a shortage. Residents opposed to the plan include Dame Justine Thornton, High Court judge and wife of Labour’s Net Zero Secretary, Ed Miliband. Some voices, it seems, carry further than others.
Now running a charity in New York, David Miliband – beaten to the Labour leadership in 2010 by brother Ed – declined the chance to see Oasis on their US tour. ‘I am more Coldplay than Oasis,’ he said.
Perhaps the saga of the Gallagher brothers – estranged for 15 years before reuniting – hits a little too close to home.
The last time the foundations of the House of Windsor shook this hard was after Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
Then-Prince Andrew and his brother Edward were dispatched by the late Queen to test the public mood on the Mall before Her Majesty appeared before the crowds.
The pair got a surprisingly warm response, giving her the confidence to greet mourners. Who’d risk unleashing Andrew on the public now?
- Royal helicopters carry distinctive call signs – ‘Kitty’, ‘Rainbow’, ‘Kittyhawk’ – used by pilots and air traffic control. The former Duke of York, however, had one just for him: ‘Leopard.’ An animal famed for stalking and pouncing on its prey. Entirely coincidental, I’m sure.
When Harold Wilson faced a backbench rebellion in 1969, he declared: ‘I know what’s going on. I am going on.’ He survived as Labour leader for another seven years. Sir Keir Starmer may be lucky to survive seven weeks.
If in doubt, do what Maggie did
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PIERCE: Nicknamed after a paint, why ‘Strong White’ Dame Antonia is a woman not to be messed with!
Following the appointment of the first female Cabinet Secretary, Dame Antonia Romeo, one of her more illustrious predecessors issued some pointed advice.
Lord Butler of Brockwell, Cabinet Secretary from 1988 to 1998 under Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, said: ‘Whether people liked or disliked what Thatcher did… she got things done. She did it by appointing the best managers, from outside the civil service when necessary, delegating and holding them accountable to a small centre in which she played the central and often terrifying role.’ Listen up!
Green Party leader Zack Polanski may wish to avoid the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border. Approval has been granted for 3,500 homes to be built on agricultural land near Ledbury, by the Green-led Forest of Dean council. So much for environmental guardianship!
