A week of Westminster theatre and what the performance is concealing
A week of Westminster theatre and what the performance is concealing
Comment from Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
Dear diary. The King’s Speech gave Keir Starmer one more day. The prospect of playing happy families in front of the monarch appears to have persuaded Labour’s most militant internal critics to bide their time slightly longer. I say this not to mock the process – constitutional ritual has its uses – but to note that it is a remarkable thing that a ceremonial event involving gilded coaches has more authority over the parliamentary Labour Party than the elected leader of the parliamentary Labour Party. This tells you something about the state of the thing.
The rebellion count is now over ninety-five Labour MPs who have in some form called for Starmer to go or set a timetable. The cabinet resignations include Wes Streeting. The junior minister resignations include Jess Phillips. These are not peripheral figures; these are the people who were supposed to be the next generation of Labour leadership. The party is consuming itself with the particular efficiency of a party that remembers doing this before and is determined to get better at it.
What the Drama Is Actually About
Parliamentary rebellions are never purely about the stated issue. The stated issue this time is Starmer’s leadership style, his poll ratings, his failure to develop a positive programme. The actual issue – which is never stated because it cannot be stated without making everyone look worse – is that Labour won a majority of seats in 2024 on 34% of the vote and has been governing ever since as if 34% represents the kind of mandate that justifies ignoring the other 66%. The rebellion is the 66% arriving at Labour’s door wearing the faces of Labour MPs. This is democracy eating its own.
I have been reading Pareto on elites circulating. It is not cheerful reading. I went to the library and came back slightly more pessimistic but better informed, which is the correct trade-off for a Tuesday afternoon.
The intellectual life in London in June 2026 is the intellectual life of a city managing a political moment that is both interesting and exhausting: the Reform surge provides material for structural analysis; the Labour crisis provides material for institutional analysis; the King Speech provides material for constitutional analysis; and the specific London question of why a city this wealthy and this capable produces this much homelessness and this many food banks provides material for the political economy analysis that connects all three. I am working through all of them simultaneously. The canal is still there when I need to walk. The LSE library is still there when I need to read. The diary is here when I need to write. The work continues. More at prat.uk/author/admin/.
The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention. The week in full is at the author page. The diary continues next week from the same place with the same attention.
More at prat.uk/author/admin/.
More at https://www.private-eye.co.uk.
SOURCE: Satirical Journalism