The Owen Paterson affair has unlocked a powerful narrative for Labour – but expect a ferocious Tory counterattack
Finally, after just over two years of Boris Johnson as prime minister, the Conservative party is in a serious crisis. Johnson’s dreadful misjudgments over the Owen Paterson affair have unleashed mayhem, but it is not just the occupants of Downing Street who face a critical test. Labour will also be consumed with a debate about strategy and tactics – and this is a vital opportunity for Keir Starmer to seize the initiative.
I have been a part of such debates in the Labour leader’s office under Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer. Labour will be asking itself what next – what do we need to do to reset, and respond to the changed terrain? For a period during the first Covid-19 lockdown, Labour wrestled with how constructive or critical its opposition should be. Whatever the merits of that argument at the time, the question is now settled: a government that is prepared to act with such flagrant, corrupt arrogance has to be exposed to the most aggressively oppositional campaign, while the wounds are raw. The Tories’ nightmare means the shadow cabinet has to function at a much higher level – in full campaign mode, as if fighting a general election. Calling this what it is – corruption, rather than merely sleaze – is essential.
Simon Fletcher is a former adviser to Keir Starmer, Jeremy Corbyn and Ed Miliband
