What If?
One of the more fashionable devices in terms of history and narratives, especially prevalent on social media, is the “what if?” What if JFK, RFK, MLK, and John Lennon had not been assassinated? What if there had been no Watergate, no 9/11, no Wuhan wet market sourced pandemic, or no global financial crisis?
Of course, all of these are the big ones defining our age and causing no small amount of head-scratching. Moving to the political arena in this country, we have issues such as: what if Churchill had won the 1945 election? What if there had been a Liberal coalition with the Conservatives in 1974, rather than the journey to the Winter of Discontent, and perhaps no Margaret Thatcher era? If former Labour leader John Smith had not died, perhaps there would have been no Tony Blair, and so on. There’s also the question of Brexit, with David Cameron aligning the government with Remain and thereby guaranteeing a protest vote win for Brexit—unlike the EEC referendum in 1975.
A Parallel Universe
However, what we have now under the Starmer government is perhaps the opposite of the what if. This is a parallel universe where, allegedly quoting Deputy PM Angela Rayner, Sir Keir Starmer could “run a bath.” It would have been shock and awe. All that was required was for the government to do what it said it was going to do during the election campaign —and what people happily voted for—after 14 years of Conservative government. Pensioners would be cosy in their beds, WASPI women would be happily listening to Engelbert Humperdinck records, or whatever people between 65 and 75 do. And there is more. With no new taxes on “working people,” everyone from HM King Charles downwards would be flush with cash. The economy would be booming, if only on the basis that we still had the 10,000 millionaires we lost in 2024, and the government would be ploughing the extra tax receipts into the NHS and welfare.
The Ambush
To be fair, there was a policy that was flagged before the election—that of VAT on private school fees. This, one could argue, was the only non-ambush policy, or perhaps more accurately, the only promise that was not broken. Everything else seems to have been designed to fly in the face of what the public wanted or expected—and not in a good way. It could, of course, be that these are the “hard decisions” that need to be made when you have a great plan for the country. After all, the first Thatcher government gave at least three years of monetarist bread and water before any green shoots appeared. Nevertheless, it does appear that it is the curveball decisions that really hurt. The Chagos Islands were—and are—a sleeping dog that could have been allowed to lie for a few decades longer. Net Zero, and the return of Ed Miliband, is a surprise and cost that not many were expecting. National Insurance for employers is arguably something even worse than just taxing the individual.
The Opportunity
But above everything, winning the general election in 2024 was such a great opportunity to get rid of sleaze, cronyism, and the waste of a government that had overstayed its welcome. Instead, we have been just offered a new type of sleaze, cronyism, and waste. Just imagine if Sir Keir Starmer had either just done what he said he was going to do, or not sprung a whole load of very expensive policies on a public already battered with record-high taxes. Unfortunately, as things stand, it seems too late for a U-turn, and should the Conservatives and Reform club together, even getting through just one parliament will be a painful exercise for Labour.
By the way, why did they not go for the New Labour handle? Rhetorical question.
