Pity the Labour MPs huddling in the bars of Liverpool during their party conference. Most of them were elected for the first time last year. They might have expected to be swaggering in the annual shindig as masters of the universe. Instead, it is more of a therapy session.
Naturally, when things are going badly for a political party meetings become blame-storming sessions with the leadership being the immediate scapegoats. Under pressure, Keir Starmer seeks to placate his critics, only adding to the incoherence. U-turns, reshuffles, phase one, phase two. Mission statements that nobody can quite remember. Emphatic pledges of confidence in ministers who are sacked the next day. A refusal to express confidence in the Chancellor who then bursts into tears and is kept in office.
Bewilderingly contradictory signals keep coming out of Downing Street. This weekend we had the Prime Minister denounce Reform UK’s of policy of abolishing indefinite leave to remain for migrants as ‘racist’. Now there can be lots of valid criticisms of the policy – that it is unfair or unworkable, that it would apply too broadly to those who have integrated and are making a positive contribution. But there is no suggestion that it would not be applied to white people. So hard to see how it is racist. Nor does it seem much harsher than the Home Secretary’s plans to make it harder for migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain.
On welfare spending, we have Pat McFadden, the Work and Pensions Secretary, making some robust comments. I’m assured by someone who knows him that it is not just rhetoric – he is a true believer. Yet we also have briefings that the Government intends to lift the two-child benefit cap – adding billions more to the benefits bill and trap yet more households in worklessness cascading down the generations.
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