Once again the question occurs: ‘Why do they want it?’ Keir Starmer held a very important role in the legal profession before entering parliament, but for some reason he desperately wanted to be even more political. As soon as he became an MP it was plain that he was so keen to get the top job that he was even willing to go through the Jeremy Corbyn period – immiserating his reputation and presumably himself by spending years having to pretend that Corbyn was a suitable candidate for prime minister. Serving in Corbyn’s shadow cabinet was not something that any decent person would do – leading some of us to conclude either that Starmer was not a decent person or that he had such a surfeit of ambition it didn’t matter because it was a means to an end.
Now that Starmer has reached that end, and indeed the end of that end, the question returns: why did he want it? Why do any of them want it?
Before he became prime minister, David Cameron was reportedly asked why he wanted the top job. His reply: ‘Because I’d be good at it.’ Which was certainly an arrogant reason, but one not entirely without merit. If Cameron was vaguely visionless he was also at least vaguely competent. But what of all those who have followed him? Why did Theresa May want to be prime minister? She had a torrid task to perform – delivering a Brexit she didn’t believe in – and utterly failed at her task. So what was she there for? Why all the torture and intrigue to get the top job? To do what?
