Does Keir Starmer really want to change politics? He has been talking a bit less about this aspiration in recent weeks, after managing to bog himself down in rows about freebies. But before coming into Downing Street, the Prime Minister complained a lot about “sticking-plaster politics” and promised to transform the way things were done.
He clearly doesn’t want to change them that much, or at least not as far as the Labour whips are concerned. Whips have been warning MPs not to make amendments to bills going through Parliament this autumn, arguing that members of the governing party should resolve their concerns about legislation through back channels. Labour MPs need to behave like they are part of a team, not as though they’re still in opposition, they argue.
On one level, this warning is entirely normal and makes a lot of sense. It is generally a sign of a failure if a member of the party in government tables an amendment to a bill. It indicates either the MP doesn’t know how to get things done and genuinely thinks going straight to a very public argument with ministers is a smart way to achieve things, or that ministers are refusing to listen to their concerns in private meetings, and........