Image source, PA MediaThe imminent appointment of the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to Andy Burnham’s government, via a seat in the House of Lords, sees the promotion of another key figure in the downfall of Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister.
When Sarwar said publicly, back in February, that Sir Keir should stand down, it was a moment of colossal jeopardy for the now former prime minister.
It looked, briefly, like it might bring about an immediate and irrevocable collapse in his authority. Then, one after another, cabinet ministers posted their support for him on social media.
As I wrote at the time, missives of public loyalty from cabinet ministers towards a prime minister shouldn’t be newsworthy and they only become so when the opposite seems feasible.
Now, five months on, Sarwar will be swapping Holyrood for Westminster and becoming a minister.
He will be joining Miatta Fahnbulleh in government, the new energy secretary in Burnham’s cabinet, who was the first government minister to resign from Sir Keir’s administration saying she had lost faith in him.
Also around the cabinet table, the new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who let it be known in what turned out to be Sir Keir’s final weeks in office that he had suggested to him that he ought to accept that his time was up.
It is also worth mentioning too John Healey, who resigned as defence secretary, and Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary towards the end of Sir Keir’s time in Downing Street, are now in prominent roles in Burnham’s cabinet as chancellor and defence secretary respectively.
This is the backdrop to comments from Steve Reed, the former communities secretary and doughty defender of Sir Keir at some of his moments of most intense peril.
Reed wrote to Burnham as he left government and said: “I hope those who did not show loyalty to Keir will now show it to you. I am proud that I acted with integrity at every step over the turbulent past few months.”
There is, right now, as you would expect, overwhelming support for Burnham among Labour MPs.
But these public remarks from Reed are an indicator of the wells of private hurt and anger created by the events of recent days, weeks and months.
It is a reminder that, of course, all the folk you are reading and hearing about are human beings who have each keenly felt the tremors of uncertainty in recent months – and depending on their circumstances, outlook, instincts and judgement, have arrived at differing conclusions and decisions about how to act.
The public intervention of Darren Jones, another loyal lieutenant of the former prime minister, taking a swipe at the funding of the government’s planned cut in VAT on domestic electricity bills should be seen in this context too.
Labour’s switch from one leader to another was less drawn out and dramatic than it might have been, as there was neither a formal leadership challenge to Sir Keir, nor more than one contender to replace him once he had announced his intention to go.
But it is also true that what we have witnessed the climax of this week, and the build up to for months on end, is not cost or pain free for a political party and some of that is manifesting itself now – and may still do for some time.
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