Untested and compromised, Putin will soon probe Labour to measure its strength and resolve. Starmer must be ready

HAMISH DE BRETTON-GORDON

5 July 2024 •

Well, Putin will be laughing. The Conservative Party – perhaps the most significant force for saving Ukraine in the early months of the war and beyond – is out of office. 

To make matters even more concerning, the new Prime Minister – Sir Keir Starmer – did not mention defence at all in first speech outside of No 10. He only mentioned that we are living in a “volatile world.”

Even so, I congratulate him for his historic victory today, because we have no choice. There are some really big battles on the horizon, where our gravest enemies of the present moment have a real chance of victory.

Not surprisingly, promises to sort out the NHS, redistribute wealth and grow the economy have won out.  But the massive elephant in the room, which all parties have ignored, is a ‘Russian’ one, which is in danger of seizing even more Ukrainian territory and sowing discord across the Continent. Then, lest we forget the Israeli-Iran conflict, which also has the potential to explode at any moment. 

As such, this is the most dangerous moment for Britain for 40 years, as the world becomes ever more dangerous and we have an untested Government in charge.

Every military strategist and commander will agree that the time of greatest danger is “at the drawn”, or – in today’s vernacular – at the time of change. Understandably, there is a huge nervousness in Whitehall with the mountain of briefings required to teach the new team a completely new language. Let’s hope they listen; many politicians do, and Starmer’s disciples have no military experience to fall back on.

But Starmer’s foreign and military team must hit the ground not running, but sprinting today.  Labour cannot ignore the Defence of the realm and the war in Europe, as all parties have done in this election. They have to demonstrate their resolve as early as this weekend, along with the celebrations and the hangovers. 

Because be in no doubt: the Kremlin will fully test them over the next few weeks. The Russians will exploit any weakness, and with a good many of his front bench having been in the past anti-nuclear, Putin will be rubbing his hands with glee that his nuclear threats may not be parried so easily in future.

Keir Starmer, too, now has his hand on our “red button” and must demonstrate his understanding and resolve here, and dispel any fears that Labour is still the party of Corbyn and opposed to doing anything to defend these islands in the worst case scenarios.

We must pray they are up to the task. Because one thing is certain: Starmer will not be able to afford clocking off at 6pm on a Friday.*

………….,

* A reference to Sir Kier Starmer’s fatuous quote:

“Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of planning to be a “part-time prime minister” after suggesting he would want to finish work at 6pm on Fridays.

The Labour leader said that on the last working day of the week he does “not do a work-related thing after 6pm pretty well come what may”, saying he wanted to protect time spent with his family.

He added that he planned to maintain the habit if his party was to be elected on Thursday.

Sir Keir told Virgin Radio: “We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids. So on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.”

……………

In the Mail, Boris has a few stark warnings, including:

“There is a real danger that traditional pro-Moscow sentiment in the Labour Party will lead to a softening of the UK position on Ukraine. That would be a tragedy.”

Another quote:

“I am afraid that the cheroot-puffing Pied Piper of Clacton has played a significant part – as he no doubt intended – in the destruction of the Tory government. The question now for the 121 Tories, as they limp back from the guns of Balaclava, is how they respond.”

…..

The “cheroot puffing pied piper of Clacton” is of course Nigel Farage, whose party took 4m votes off the tories, thus giving Labour a supermajority.

Full Boris article:

BORIS JOHNSON: My ten-point guide to bashing Labour

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-13604919/BORIS-JOHNSON-Starmers-majority-built-sand-mile-wide-inch-deep-ten-point-guide-bashing-Labour-getting-power.html