Starmer's performative politics

With a vast parliamentary majority behind him, Keir Starmer could begin reversing many of Margaret Thatcher's most toxic legacies, instead he's just performatively removed a Thatcher portrait.

With an absolutely vast parliamentary majority behind him, Keir Starmer could begin reversing many of Margaret Thatcher’s most toxic social and economic legacies, but instead he’s playing performative politics by removing a Thatcher portrait from Downing Street, while sticking to her hard-right agenda.

Starmer could begin reversing Thatcher’s diabolical assault on social housing that’s seen the social housing stock massively depleted, and millions of people trapped in rip-off private rents, but he won’t (especially since he’s literally tripled the number of private landlords on the Labour benches).

Starmer could rid Britain of the debilitating infestation of privatisation profiteers in our vital infrastructure and services (especially water and energy), but he’s actually plotting to expand this parasitical infestation even deeper into the NHS.

Starmer could move away from the neoliberal economic madness introduced by Thatcher in 1979, and move Britain back towards being a successful social democratic "mixed economy", but he won’t because British politics has shifted so far to the right that Thatcher would probably be one of the more left-wing figures if she were in Starmer’s cabinet today.

Starmer could seek to clamp down on the global tax-dodging industry that Thatcher fostered in the City of London, but he’s just as keen on the illicit flows of dodgy cash pouring through the City as she was.

Starmer could distance himself from the divisive Thatcherite agenda of portraying unionised workers as "the enemy within" by rescinding Tory anti-union laws, mandating workers on executive boards, and consistently explaining that national prosperity is achieved when workers have money in their pockets, not when workers are bled dry to facilitate obscene profits for the already fabulously wealthy minority.

Starmer could attempt to clamp down on the extreme-right media moguls and their toxic propaganda empires (by implementing Leveson 2 for example) but he’s just as desperate to pander to The S*n and Daily Mail as she ever was.

Starmer could reverse the London-centric infrastructure investment that’s left entire regions (midlands, north east, central Scotland, south Wales …) to seemingly perpetual economic decline.

Starmer could attempt to make Britain’s lopsided tax system fairer by increasing Corporation Tax; equalising Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax; getting rid of the absurd National Insurance loophole for the ultra-rich; and replacing thatcher’s absurd and outdated Council Tax system with something fairer. In fact, even if he just returned tax rates to where they were during Thatcher’s time in office, that would make the system significantly fairer than it’s become now!

Starmer could try to move away from the vapid Thatcherite economic fairy story that the national economy is like a simple family budget to talk about the importance of investment in the drivers of future economic prosperity, but instead he’s just as keen on using this grossly misleading analogy as she was, as well as fostering even more economic illiteracy by repeatedly banging on about "no money left", "magic money trees", and "maxed-out national credit cards".

Starmer could reverse Thatcher’s centralisation of political power by devolving more powers to local governments, city mayors, and devolved parliaments, but it’s vanishingly unlikely given the way he’s ruled the Labour Party like a thin-skinned autocrat for the last four years.

Instead of tackling any of these issues head on, Starmer’s intent on playing performative politics by simply removing a portrait of Thatcher from Downing Street, whilst sticking to her hard-right economic agenda.

Of course the liberal-capitalist client journalists are loving the empty symbolism of the portrait removal, just as much as the right-wing propaganda hacks are enjoying their frothing episodes of faux outrage, but it’s all just vapid nonsense to distract people from the fact that Starmer’s just as intent on continuing Thatcher’s toxic legacies as any of the other Prime Ministers to have succeeded her.

"Greed is a virtue" Thatcherism is so baked into the Westminster establishment order now that it’s impossible to imagine Starmer doing anything other than continuing with the same divisive and destructive policies that have blighted our nation for the last 45 years.

Setting up a small monthly GoCardless subscription really helps too.