Conor McGinn: Bills, boats, beds and ‘events’ will dictate Keir Starmer’s fate |
It was Harold Macmillan who reportedly offered “events, dear boy, events” as the reason governments tend to run into difficulties or have plans waylaid.
When he took over after Anthony Eden’s forced resignation as Conservative Prime Minister in 1957, it was in the wake of the Suez Crisis – the foreign foray and policy disaster that left Britain isolated and realising that it could no longer intervene in any significant way in world affairs outwith the umbrella of the United States of America.
Eden’s demise may have been sealed in the Middle East and Washington DC, but his unpopularity and lack of progress on domestic issues like the economy and immigration helped it on the way.
Sound familiar? Fast forward almost 70 years and we have another British government buffeted by global currents – or tidal waves, more accurately – and a prime minister dealing with international crises while facing growing difficulties at home.
Chris Donnelly: Commonwealth Games flag row shows how unionism is still incapable of embracing change
David Bowie was quintessentially British. But........