The Andy Richardson Column: Labour leader Keir Starmer’s ploy in praising Iron Lady Thatcher
There are those who say Sir Keir Starmer’s endorsement of Margaret Thatcher is the most cynical move since Boris Johnson wrote a for-Brexit and against-Brexit article, before deciding which way to swing.
Some revile, saying they wouldn’t vote for the Labour leader if he wore a blue dress and bought a new handbag.
Others, from the Labour Party, say they’ve been put off for good and view Sir Keir’s comments with the same disdain they’d experience if Dracula was put in charge of a bloodbank.
And there are people who are impressed at the nuance, that he hasn’t endorsed her policies, but has marvelled at her courage and determination to pursue what she thought was right – even though, he didn’t agree. There are those, particularly from the centre right, who are now more likely to vote for Sir Keir. And poor old Rishi Sunak must be despairing at the Labour leader’s brazenness in parking his Labour tanks on the Tory lawn, so close to the General Election.
The feeling across the UK is that Sir Keir is most likely to become the nation’s next Prime Minister, and that Rishi will be second in a two-horse race, just as he was with the unlamented economic headbanger who lasted not quite as long as The Daily Star’s infamous lettuce.
