Keir Starmer chalked up 18 months as prime minister earlier this month, but there has been little cause for celebration in Downing Street.

The most notable event of the past week was his decision to ditch plans for the introduction of mandatory digital ID cards – Labour’s 13th major policy U-turn since the party’s landslide election victory in July, 2024.

What made this climbdown so damaging was the fact that it came just four months after Starmer himself had announced the policy with great fanfare.

“MPs are livid,” one disgruntled backbencher told HuffPost UK. “It’s another case of us being made to look like utter fools.”

The mood inside No.10 was not helped by more manoeuvring by health secretary Wes Streeting, who implored the government to “get it right first time” rather than announcing policies only to end up ditching them.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollsters Savanta, said voters are usually more forgiving of government U-turns than MPs and journalists.

But he added: “The sheer number of Starmer’s U-turns means this is no longer.

“What is worse is the political capital he tends to waste defending usually contentious policies, only to row back weeks later. It makes him look weak, indecisive and like he is very easily influenced by external noise.

“None of these characteristics are what people want from their politicians, let alone their prime minister, whose popularity stands no chance of recovering if the image he gives to the public is one of cluelessness.”

A Kick In The Ballots?

Elections in Scotland, Wales and in councils across England are now just 16 weeks........

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