Look at the many signs of Britain’s decline. Growth is feeble and public debt has reached 95% of GDP. Public services are stuttering and the armed forces are depleted. The streets are grubby and the electorate is in a sulphurous mood. The BBC has even cancelled the „Doctor Who” Christmas special.
Then there is the desultory way in which Sir Keir Starmer failed as prime minister. He was elected with a vast majority and a mandate to restore Britain, but he will leave Downing Street after just two years. His offence was not an epic misjudgment born of hubris, like David Cameron and his Brexit referendum. Nor was it a scandal, like Boris Johnson and his boozy Downing Street parties in lockdown. He committed no disastrous error, unlike Liz Truss and her budget. Sir Keir was simply unable to marshal power or say why he wanted it. His government wilted like a houseplant in a heatwave.
De redactie van NRC selecteert de beste artikelen uit The Economist voor een breder perspectief op internationale politiek en economie.
Barring the wholly unexpected, Andy Burnham will soon become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade. He must reckon with this twin decline of Britain’s fabric and its politics. He cannot fix one without fixing the other. Yet he shows little sign that he grasps the scale or urgency of the tasks that await him.
