Starmer is the least worst option

I've just been watching a bit of Keir Starmer on Youtube to remind myself who he is. He's Labour's strongest contender and since I want to see a credible opposition I want to know what it is we're getting.

Policy shtick wise he's middle of the road for Labour. He's no Blair and he's not a Blairite but he is your typical big spending paternalist and buys into all the "green new deal" climate shtick. Closer to Blair than Corbyn which at least puts him in the game. But he has a problem. He's plodding, he's boring, lacking any charisma and too easily sucked into explaining himself. He's just wooden.

That, though, is not necessarily a bad thing as an antidote to Johnson who is a profoundly unserious man who lies all the time, contradicting himself and his ministers, and doesn't do detail. The yobbish jeering approach is enough to ride him through the current phase of Brexit but when it comes down to matter of substance he's well out of his depth whereas a more sober Starmer is not.

For now Johnson can run with his jokey persona but when the real world consequences of Brexit start to hit home, the public won't see it as a joke and a deadpan serious opposition might actually convince voters that Labour is a relatively safe and serious alternative.

What Labour actually needs is a Gordon Brown. I never liked Gordon Brown but it wasn't necessary to like him. He was a serious man who could be taken seriously and behind the scenes is reputed to be a thinker with an inherent sense of curiosity. I recall Ivan Rogers telling me how Brown would want to know the details and the specifics in any dealings with the EU and was genuinely interested. He would take what he was told and go and do the necessary reading. There was a certain diligence to him.

Sadly I don't get that impression of Starmer. He's an accomplished man in his career but that is not necessarily an indicator of ability or intellect. For sure, by contrast with Nandy and Long-Bailey he's an intellectual colossus but he's no analyst. When he persistently got the customs union and single market muddled I started to wonder if he was actually a bit thick. But that's unfair. He's not thick. People are generally intellectually limited once they commit themselves to defending a tribe or cause.

The problem he has, though, is baggage. He was a ringleader of the obstructionists and were it not for the blockers there's a chance May's deal would have passed and Johnson wouldn't even be prime minister. How can Starmer now argue for a softer Brexit when he's part of the reason we are where we are?

I suspect though, that if Starmer changes his pitch from hard remain to pragmatism, showing that he has a more viable approach while Johnson's credibility is collapsing, then at the very least he can prune his eighty strong majority quite substantially - enough to give the next leader a shot at winning and maybe even weaken the Tories just enough that Johnson has to resign.

In any case Starmer is the least worst option. If the alternative is Long-Bailey then not only is Labour finished, Britain is also completely screwed. Part of what keeps Labour down is that it represents the losing side in the culture war and if we have continuity Corbyn with a smattering of identity politics, along with the same old factionalism then Labour is incapable of opposing let alone governing. Moreover, Long-Bailey is gormless, lightweight and looks utterly ridiculous.

Starmer may be the epitome of bland progressive centrism with the personality of a wet dishcloth but right now the country just needs a placeman to hold the line while Labour gets its act together. If Starmer can marshal the limited talent in the party such as Kinnock, Reeves and Champion then they can at least say they've reclaimed the party from the morons who currently occupy the front bench. Starmer's first job will be to make the party at least look like it can be salvaged and that requires a total purge of Corbynista cretins and making damn sure the Novara hipster jugend are let nowhere near the BBC to represent Labour.

It's very evident that Boris Johnson doesn't perform well under stress, and he doesn't handle hostility very well. He should be an easy nut to crack, especially as he's not very consistent in his lies, and should be relatively easy to catch out for someone who's on the ball when it comes to Brexit details. Johnson can be taken apart on trade and if Starmer starts making Efta noises then he could very well win over moderate leave voters. If, though, it's just going to be Long-Bailey bleating about chlorine washed chicken then nobody is going to take Labour remotely seriously. If Labour is bringing a pocket knife to the Brexit gunfight then there's no hope for any of us.