24-05-2025
Will the UK's Iron Chancellor Melt Under the Heat?
When does a tactical retreat become a rout? Keir Starmer performed his biggest U-turn in government yet on Thursday by promising to reinstate some pensioners' winter fuel allowance (WFA), which he cut last July. The prime minister caved in after muttering from disaffected Labour backbench MPs became a roar - and the measure had become totemic of much that the voters dislike about a government, now languishing in the opinion polls behind the populist Reform UK party.
The prime minister can just soldier on. No one, not even Starmer, who prides himself on his 'pragmatism,' knows what his guiding light is on the economy. As a former lawyer with a strong record on human rights, his hand can be detected in liberal prison reforms and deference to international courts; otherwise he seems most at home with his international affairs brief. A number of Downing Street economic advisers have quit without explanation over the last fortnight. They seem to have been none the wiser about their boss's economic philosophy too - or were underwhelmed by it.
