No deal would be a disaster for the British economy. The Labour leader should be doing everything in his power to avert it
Why is the opposition leader, Keir Starmer, being so kind to Boris Johnson over Brexit? In the Commons last week he decorously downplayed the prime minister’s conversion to law-breaking. At the weekend he gently told Telegraph readers it was “wrong” but pleaded for everyone to “stop banging on about Europe”. Tory grandees and backbenchers are left howling for Johnson’s blood while Starmer says “tut-tut” and wishes the issue would go away.
The Labour leader clearly holds to the old maxim that when a government is split a wise opposition stays silent. But Johnson is in a strong position. He has a majority of 80 and deploys personal loyalty ruthlessly. He asserts that his Brexit internal market bill is just an “insurance policy” should the Brexit talks fail, and they have not failed, yet. They have days, even weeks, to run. Johnson’s brain does not go beyond weeks.
