Keir Starmer’s depressing encounter with a mob shows Boris Johnson’s new ‘grownups’ really have their work cut out
Having been instrumental in forcing the last two prime ministers out of office, Boris Johnson is on a hat-trick. Can he do it? Can Big Dog play his cards in such a way that a third prime ministerial scalp will be his – his in more ways than one? The answer feels like a hard yes, but this never-ending Greek tragedy is certainly taking its time. How’s your stamina? Like me, you maybe feel the Boristeia is dragging on a bit. Seemingly three plays in, Shagamemnon is still with us.
Anyway: we go again. One calendar week after Johnson tried to wriggle off the “partygate” hook by shouting something grim about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile, Keir Starmer was beset in the street by a mob shouting something grim about him and Jimmy Savile. It’s important to be clear that they were shouting a load of other grim stuff, too – but I’m afraid that isn’t the get-out Downing Street seems to think it is. In fact, it just underlines why no prime minister, ever, should be feeding dangerous conspiracy theories, which run the gamut from anti-vax all the way to antisemitism, via a selection of paedophile-based nonsense and much else besides. If recent rallies and demos have taught us anything, it’s that there is, increasingly, plenty of overlap. These days, all sorts of persuasions are fellow travellers.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
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