Stuck with Starmer

Another week has rolled by and Keir Starmer is still Prime Minister. The Peter Mandelson affair grinds on, with a vote of inquiry into whether Starmer misled the Commons has been tabled by the Tories, and now ministers will spend their Monday evening ringing round the PLP to ensure they vote the right way. And the overwhelming majority of them will. After all this parliamentary party has happily voted for cuts to disability payments, so they're unlikely to find fault with the administrative procedures surrounding the affair. Tuesday also brings us Morgan McSweeney's appearance before the Foreign Affairs Committee, which may entail more squirming and discomfiture. All of which is about muddying Starmer's responsibility for appointing Mandelson in the first place. You've got to ask how much longer can the farce of this premiership stagger on for. Over the weekend, Starmer said the next election would be between Labour and Reform and he's the man to lead that campaign. He went on to say…