Contains: integrity; authority; unity — Why Sir Keir Starmer is NOT the answer

This morning, just like every other Labour Party member, I received through the mail an A3 poster of Sir Keir Starmer, exhorting me to support him in the Labour leadership ballot that begins tomorrow (24 Feb 2020). Filled with celebrity endorsements, the leaflet emphasises the working-class credentials of this knighted former barrister and Director of Public Prosecutions. It puts forward Sir Keir as the ‘unity’ candidate under the slogan Integrity, Authority, Unity. But as Bernie makes history in the Democratic primaries to run against Trump, Starmer is the last person we need in the fight against our own Trumps — Johnson and Cummings. As the Brexit and election defeats demonstrate, a centrist candidate at the very heart of the establishment is the last thing the Labour Party, and ultimately the country, need right now.

It still seems incredible that someone like Johnson, whose corruption, racism, incompetence and bigotry is so well documented has been elected to the highest office in the country. Literally there can be few people less qualified for public office than this. As Trump famously boasted and since his impeachment repeated, he could go down Fifth Avenue, commit murder and literally no-one would care. The morality that in the past caused the downfall of many political careers in lower posts is…