In less than 48 hours the Labour administration faces its greatest challenge – the 2024/25 budget. The public reaction may determine the future of the the prime minister. He owns this budget even more than the Chancellor.

Since being elected in July, Starmer hasn’t set the world alight.

But that was something voters factored in before the election. The Labour victory wasn’t won through inspiration from the leader or the party’s campaign but from exasperation with Tory incompetence, cronyism and grift.

Thankfully Starmer isn’t a flash, bang, wallop sort of politician.

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He’s earnest but lacks warmth. Media performances are definitely not a strong point.

Evidence suggests the British public could forgo those deficiencies in exchange for his straightforwardness, doggedness and sincerity. The electorate had their fill of Johnson and Truss-type........

© The Irish News