It was an extraordinary rise, and extraordinary fall. Just over two years ago Sir Keir Starmer celebrated taking the Labour Party from its worst-ever election defeat to one of it’s greatest landslide victories.
But after a stumbling time in No 10 – where his achievements were overshadowed by political mistakes, from hiring Peter Mandelson as US ambassador to scrapping winter fuel payments – he is now stepping down as an MP.
It is, his enemies are sniping, one final U-turn from the former prime minister who presided over numerous policy about turns – 14 by one count – from that winter Fuel debacle to digital ID. When he resigned as PM in June he said he would serve his full term as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
(To be fair, Andy Burnham said he’d serve out a full third term as Greater Manchester mayor.)
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