… prime minister Keir Starmer is fighting to keep his job. One trade union has even called for Angela Rayner to replace him as prime minister. The leader of the Scottish Labout party Anas Sarwar has also said he has no confidence in Starmer. If the party loses the Gorton and Denton byelection later this month and fares badly in local elections in May, the pressure on Starmer to quit will increase.

It is not only his appointment of Peter Mandelson to be ambassador to the US despite knowing of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein that is causing him problems, it is that he has shown himself to be a leader without any real leadership qualities, and this has resulted in a rapid turnover of people in his administration. The personal gifts of clothes and other items from wealthy people to Starmer, Rayner and other top Labour party officials has led to a sense that they are just like the Tories who were thrown out.

“We came into office promising to be different from the Tories. Keir always took the moral high ground in opposition,” says one Labour MP. “The public expected us to be squeaky clean. Yes, it’s a higher bar than the other lot, but we set it. Now they think we’re all the same.”

The optics of freebiegate were particularly damaging because the row erupted just weeks after the chancellor had announced winter fuel duty would be cut for all but the poorest pensioners.

MPs, already under siege from angry constituents over that decision, were now forced to defend senior ministers from charges of hypocrisy. “It was awful,” says one MP. “They were very publicly enjoying the trappings of power at just the same time they were taking away support from some really vulnerable people.”

Luke Tryl, the executive director of the research organisation More in Common, says the scandal caused a rocky start to the Labour government.

“It played into the public’s frustration at the pervasive sense of ‘one rule for them’ and that politicians are only looking for what they can get out of the job, contradicting Starmer’s mantra of politics [as] service,” he says. “People felt they were electing this government to bring an end to the seeming perma-scandal that marked the end of the last Tory government – and we’ve had people in focus groups saying: ‘Oh, it’s just more of the same.’”

Just yesterday it was announced that Starmer had forced out his cabinet secretary in an apparent effort to repair the image that he is directionless. Antonia Romeo, the person strongly rumored to succeed to the position, has a reputation of being a dynamic person who could upend the staid civil service role but herself has a troubled past when she served as consul-general in the New York office. She too seems to enjoy receiving gifts from wealthy donors and even seeking them out.

Romeo used the residence on East 51st Street to host lavish events, including a centenary party for British Vogue, with the model Alexa Chung and Rupert Murdoch among those attending.
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While decidedly different from her “white, pale, male and stale” predecessors, Romeo’s direct style and penchant for luxury irked her new colleagues in New York. One described how the diplomat was “obsessed” with her social media presence, using her profile on Twitter and Instagram to share pictures of herself with celebrities and public figures.

A junior member of staff resigned while Romeo was in post, telling human resources that she treated underlings “like stepping stones” and was overtly concerned with “building the personal brand of Antonia”.
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During her tenure multiple Foreign Office staff raised concerns about Romeo, who was subsequently investigated for bullying and misusing expenses.

In documents seen by The Times, colleagues outlined concerns about how she had requested more than $100,000 to redecorate the residence. When her efforts were rebuffed, she allegedly asked staff to approach British companies, such as Farrow & Ball and The Rug Company, to redecorate it free of charge.

Concerns were also raised about her use of $150,000 on school fees for her children, as well as sending $200 bouquets of flowers to figures such as Victoria Beckham.

When the complaints were handed to the Foreign Office in London, Sir Tim Hitchens, the former ambassador to Japan, was asked to investigate. His concerns were passed to the Cabinet Office, which decided that there was “no case to answer”.

She has also been accused of loving the limelight, enjoying being a celebrity and seeking the company of celebrities, and focusing on developing her social media profile, not a good sign for a job that usually requires one to work behind the scenes. She has also been closely associated with former prime minister Liz (“loser to a lettuce”) Truss.

What is it with politicians who, once achieving high office, succumb to the temptation to accept personal gifts like clothes and tickets to events and the like? As people have pointed out, it is not only that it looks like they can be bought, but that they can be bought so cheaply, with the exception of Trump whose abuse of office and corruption and personal enrichment is on a massive scale that runs into the billions of dollars.

This is so frustrating. Starmer and Labour swept into power because people were absolutely fed up with the long period of Conservative misrule. There was so much that could have been done by them to improve the lot of ordinary people. There were always warning signs that Starmer would not be a progressive leader. His vague platform and ‘Ming vase’ electoral strategy did not bode well, and neither did his purging of progressives. But I did not expect him to be weak on policy and incompetent in governing and lacking in basic political instincts that has resulted in people becoming so disillusioned with him within six months of taking office. And he has not been able to recover, with the recent Mandelson fiasco just adding to the party’s woes.

But my sense of frustration is also partly my fault. With my incurable optimism, I keep thinking that a Labour government in the UK, like a Democratic congress and presidency in the US, will bring in the progressive measures that most people want. I keep forgetting that the neoliberals have hollowed out these parties, managing to remove the progressives from the leadership and replaced them with soulless bureaucrats who will only make changes in the margins while protecting the interest of the oligarchy.

Jonathan Pie talks about all the people in Starmer’s government who have resigned or been forced out within just the past year and the sheer incompetence that has characterized his brief tenure in office.