Would-be leaders are trying to woo party members with a dangerous mix of fantasy policies and wild tax cuts
Empty power-lust is a dispiriting spectacle. The array of contenders jostling for the hollow crown are a motley ship of fools or knaves, striving to outbid each other with fantasy policies and vast tax cuts that never count the cost.
Downright chancers and jaw-dropping improbables stand alongside obscenely rich frontrunners with dubious tax records. None look likely to win back “red wall” seats, according to heavily negative polling in the Times: the better their name recognition, the more they are disliked, while only Keir Starmer has a positive score (with eight points).
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
