‘Worse than the worst of Boris Johnson’ – are Labour turning on Starmer?
4/23/202619 min
Somewhere in the documents surrounding Peter Mandelson’s ambassadorial appointment, the *Spectator'*s political editor Tim Shipman reveals, is a text Keir Starmer sent the night before the announcement. ‘You’ll be brilliant in challenging circumstances,’ he told the Prince of Darkness. ‘And after many years of our discussions, we get to work together side by side. I really look forward to that.’
The message was leaked after a week in which the Prime Minister’s relationship with senior civil servants has collapsed. Tim says Starmer’s ‘apparent incomprehension of the very process he advocates has led officials to conclude he is no better than the predecessor he most deplores – Boris Johnson’. Has Starmer become the very thing he sought to destroy?
Tim Shipman joins Oscar Edmondson and James Heale to discuss.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Oscar Edmondson· Host0:30
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to Coffee House Shots, The Spectator's Daily Politics podcast. I'm Oscar Henson. I'm joined today by Tim Shipman and James Heil. Now, the Manison row continues, and Tim, you've written an excellent cover piece for the magazine about the irony of Keir Starmer and about how he's become the very thing he swore to destroy. I must congratulate you first for being, I think, the first cover piece which includes the word shitweasel in it. [laughs] Um, can you shed some light on that?
Tim Shipman· Guest1:00
This has been a, a much commented on word. I've been contacted by former ministers, special advisors, all saying, "This is a great word. We must seek to use it more in our daily lives." This is a description, uh, of the Prime Minister, I'm afraid. I think the full quote is something along the lines of, "Hopefully, these events will put, uh, to the sort the idea that this is a decent and honorable man. He is a shitweasel who blames everybody else for his own mistakes." Um, and that is the view of people at the center of government, and the-- this has been one of the more,