Keir Starmer's desire for 'legitimacy' could come back to haunt him

Between the House of Lords and Britain’s broken electoral system, it’s a bit like having “compassionate” in the same sentence as “conservatism”.

They don’t quite go together.

Still, legitimacy is what Keir Starmer claims he wants at the next General Election – and he has no idea how those words may come back to haunt his future campaign.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Leading Scotland Where? programme over the weekend, the Labour leader stated that, come the election, he wanted “to be not the prime minister of the UK – but the prime minister for the UK.”

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And is perhaps the most perfect Starmerism we’ve had the misfortune to endure to date – a carefully rehearsed one-liner that is both terrifically banal and at the same time so cringe-inducing that I rolled my eyes far enough into the back of my own head as to see the trail of broken promises and obfuscations that mark his time as leader of the opposition strewn out behind me.

As a party leader who has walked back near every promise made while setting out his stall during the 2020 leadership election, I would think he should tread more carefully around concepts such as legitimacy.

His campaign promise to abolish tuition fees if elected is on shaky ground already. Renationalising major industries for the good of all is out the window. His assurances that freedom of movement in the EU would be defended have gone up in a puff of smoke.

He said he’d work with trade unions, then fired shadow transport minister Sam Tarry for joining a picket line. And his guarantee to protect the rights of migrants isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

Starmer has more broken promises to his name than I have cliched idioms to describe how broken they are.

Speaking on Radio 4, he concluded that during the next General Election, his party needs “a strong showing in Scotland, so we have that legitimacy” to lead the UK. And, oh boy, that’s going to come back to bite him.

Can we infer then that, should Scotland send Labour packing as it has done for the last decade, they would have no “legitimate” claim to govern us from Westminster? And in turn, recognising that he has no rightful means to rule over us, would a referendum on our independence be granted?

That would certainly be the principled position for Starmer to take, if he truly believes that his party needs the backing of the Scots before he can become prime minister of the United Kingdom. Sorry, for the United Kingdom.

Obviously, Starmer has no intention of sticking by his word. It’s hard enough to get the Labour leader to even voice an opinion that hasn’t been focus-grouped to death, never mind actually standing by it once uttered. The man could U-turn a semi-trailer truck halfway through the Clyde Tunnel.

And that’s assuming Starmer even manages to get Labour into power. Having already squandered a good deal of the significant lead gained through rampant Tory cronyism and ineptitude, there’s no guarantee he won’t set himself to obliterating it completely by the time the election rolls around.

But if, somehow, he doesn’t fritter away the chance to release the UK from further Tory rule, there are some steps he could take to legitimise himself. So listen up, Keir.

First, drop the Blair-lite lunge to the right and return to the socialist principles that you were elected on. It was a cheap move to run on popular (and for that matter, quite necessary) policies that you clearly had no intention of following through with.

Next, commit to reforming the broken first-past-the-post electoral system, as your party wants. If David Cameron could get a majority for the Conservatives in 2010 with just 36% of the vote, it’s pretty clear there’s an issue with the UK’s electoral process. Add to that the current attempts at voter suppression from the Tories and you have a route to power so illegitimate it might as well be one of Boris Johnson’s children.

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And finally, recognise that Scotland has the right to set its own path – and should you find that we reject your offer at the ballot box, don’t stand in our way. By your own words, you have no legitimate means to govern us. Not that I believe you would care.

If we are still tied to the United Kingdom by the time of the election, however, I suspect the best we can expect is more broken promises from another weathervane Labour leader – and another example of how Scotland’s interests are best served when the controls of power rest with us, regardless of who resides at 10 Downing Street.