“We are a patriotic party”: How Starmer justified vote for new Covid restrictions

Labour has urged people to “do the right thing” by following Covid restrictions despite the poor example set by Boris Johnson. New Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared in parliament yesterday that the government had “undermined trust at a critical moment” with its denials and non-denials around Christmas parties that clearly did take place last year. The opposition also highlighted one of the questions BBC Radio 4 focused on this morning: whether its target has changed from every adult getting the booster by the end of the year to every adult being offered it. Long queues have formed at vaccination sites and the NHS website has been crashing, but more than 500,000 still managed to book their booster on Monday.

Keir Starmer responded to Boris Johnson’s televised address on Sunday with his own broadcast on BBC One last night. (Whenever the Prime Minister opts for a recorded statement, avoiding the added scrutiny that comes with a Covid press conference, Starmer gets a right of reply.) Like the Prime Minister over the weekend, there were few news lines in the Labour leader’s video: in fact, his main message, “get Britain boosted”, was the same, but with added patriotism (Johnson’s was more simply “get boosted now”). Starmer had a Union Jack behind him, as well as a family photo and books, mostly on interior design.

Although the Labour leader said “it is my solemn duty to challenge the government where necessary”, he did not do as many activists in his party would like: talk about the need for increased sick pay, say, or mention trade unions. Instead, he reiterated that the public must “preserve and protect” the NHS, although really our health service should have the necessary equipment and staff to be able to protect us. (Labour wants to emphasise waiting lists as the key health issue, because it is an argument the party can win. I would suggest that challenging the government’s ‘protect the NHS’ line – wrongly aimed at us rather than ministers – would be helpful.)

Where Starmer diverged from Johnson’s message was in his implicit rebuke of the Christmas parties scandal (“At this time we need leadership. Leadership that the country can trust.”) and in his explicit justification of Labour’s decision to back new restrictions (“The Labour Party that I lead will always act in Britain’s best interests”). Again, he returned to patriotism to explain why the opposition will provide the votes needed for new rules to pass, saying: “We are a patriotic party. And it is our patriotic duty to vote for these measures to ensure that they go through.” Whether Tory whips can limit the extent to which Johnson is reliant on Labour votes for ‘plan B’ today remains to be seen – but it is not a good position for the Prime Minister to be in.