Whataboutery won't get Labour far as a defence

When it became obvious that Labour were going to win a general election in 2024 or 2025, commentators assumed that Keir Starmer would be keen to show how different his government and party were from the Conservative Bacchanalia that had gone before.

Woe betide the first Labour backbencher to be found doing something that appears a little dodgy, the commentators said. They would be out on their ear, as Starmer showed he wasn't going to tolerate any misbehaviour.

It hasn't turned out like that. Nothing happened when, to his shock, the poor condition of flats let by the new Labour MP Jas Athwal was revealed.

And now we have Angela Rayner defending accepting a free holiday in New York because she has declared it and didn't break any rules.

I like Angela Rayner, not least because it's such a change to have a Northern and working-class voice in the cabinet, but this won't do. 

Most voters earn a lot less than Rayner now does and manage to pay for their own holidays. Why should she be any different, particularly when the risk of someone buying undue influence over a senior politician are clear? (I'm sure Lord Alli has acted from generous motives, but not everyone is so public spirited.)

If such a holiday is within the rules, then the rules must change. But rich people do like receiving perks.

The Labour reaction to this news story, and to similar ones like that on Starmer's new wardrobe, has been to say the Tories were worse.

The Tories were worse - much worse - but whataboutery won't get Labour far as a defence when voters were led to expect they would be different.

And, deep down, I have a fear that Keir Starmer has more in common with Boris Johnson than we imagined. He's been very good at saying what people want to hear - a gift that deserted him as soon as he became prime minister - but does he have any strong political beliefs of his own?