Sadly, there is no proper job description for leader of the Labour Party, still less an operations manual for how to go about making a success of this most difficult of roles. This is partly because some of the biggest problems are virtually insoluble. Not the least of these is what to say and do during a high-profile industrial action.
The current rail dispute is a perfect example. If Keir Starmer and his team turn up on the picket line, or even display much sympathy for the rail workers’ cause, then they’re labelled as militants and Marxists by the Tories. Stamer & Co will be blamed for hard-working commuters failing to get to their vital work, students missing exams, aspirational types missing interviews and all the rest of it.
The likes of Grant Shapps claim to be “on your side”, whereas, on those terms, Starmer would be helping the unions grind Britain to a halt, hold it to ransom and make the nation impossible to govern. No claim will be too outlandish; no fresh anti-union legislation too draconian because the RMT went on strike for a day. The fact that Labour still receives much of its funding from contributions by trade unionists will be merrily misrepresented.
