26 The Sunday Times April 24, 2022COMMENT
Robert Colvile
should be banned, or what defines a
woman, it triggers an online intifada.
The Tory jibes about “Captain
Hindsight” have also cut through
with voters.
Then there is the pressing question
of why, if Corbyn was quite so awful,
Starmer campaigned quite so
enthusiastically for him to lead the
country — and stood for the leadership
on a campaign of continuity Corbynism.
And the Tories will surely be dusting
down those 2015 posters of Ed Miliband
in Alex Salmond’s pocket to warn
English swing voters of the threat of a
Labour-SNP alliance.
But while the bookies still think the
Tories will be the largest party after the
next election, the odds on their staying
in government are longer than they used
to be. As James Johnson says: “Starmer
definitely isn’t Blair. But maybe he
doesn’t have to be. The Conservatives
definitely don’t need a Blair-style swing
to lose their majority.”
At the moment, Labour’s strategy
appears to be to make it as painless as
possible for voters to switch. That will
infuriate its Corbynite wing. But after
five years of Johnsonian pyrotechnics, a
little boredom could have a certain
electoral appeal.
@RobertColvilein soon. None of the people I’ve spoken
to have come away converted. In
particular, they tend to find Starmer
distinctly squirrelly when pressed on
the specifics — such as Labour’s attitude
to nationalisation or its plans for
business taxes.
But the core message is that he is
prepared to listen to business, and work
with it, at a time when many bosses are
feeling actively neglected by the Tories.
Yes, he may raise taxes. But in exchange
he can offer what companies crave:
boring, reassuring predictability.
Allied to this is a sense that both the
Tories and Labour are fighting over a
narrow stretch of political terrain. They
both want to invest in infrastructure,
support the NHS, improve adult skills,
raise research and development
spending, deliver net zero, arm Ukraine,
punish criminals and lower taxes on
average families. The Tories are going
in strong on illegal immigration in the
local election campaign not just because
it’s popular with their voters, but
because it’s one of the few areas where
the parties disagree on ends rather than
just means.
Of course, Labour still has gaping
vulnerabilities — in particular on cultural
issues. Every time a frontbencher is
asked to comment on whether smackingsector as the engine of Britain’s
prosperity — and apologising outright for
Labour’s recent attitude.
This isn’t just about speeches. I’ve
talked to a truly surprising number of
business leaders, in a number of sectors,
who have casually mentioned that
they just saw Starmer or Reeves or
both, or that they’ve got one of the
members of the shadow cabinet comingus. Reeves’s plan to abolish business
rates, for example, would be funded by
cutting the huge amounts she claims the
government is frittering away on tax
relief. But of course, if there were
billions sitting on the pavement,
Rishi Sunak would already have picked
them up.
Yes, you could get some extra cash by
cutting tax relief for high earners’
pensions, though there’s a reason every
recent chancellor has flirted with that
idea, then abandoned it. But the
remaining big-ticket items mostly fall
into the category of “Good luck with
that” — putting VAT on food or transport,
lowering income tax allowances, taxing
the sale of the family home and so on.
Reeves’s other suggestion is to sextuple
the Tories’ levy on the internet giants.
But you’d need 170 more Googles to
replace the cash from rates.
Still, if you ignore the optimistic
maths, what’s significant here is what
Labour is promising. Abolishing
business rates? A ruthless focus on value
for money in government spending?
Opposing national insurance hikes and
supporting VAT cuts on energy as “a real
Brexit dividend”? All perfect policies for
a Tory manifesto. Jonathan Reynolds,
the shadow business secretary, has even
been giving speeches lauding the privateT
he other day something
extraordinary happened. I was
taking part in a panel
discussion and someone asked
during the Q&A what Labour’s
position was, and how that
affected the government’s
thinking. The answer, as it has
been since the 2019 election, was that it
wasn’t really a factor. But what was
extraordinary was that someone had
mentioned Labour at all.
For the past two years, the political
debate in Westminster has essentially
taken place within the Conservative
Party — often involving quite a lot of
raised voices. That is what happens
when a party wins an 80-seat majority. It
sucks up all the oxygen. If you doubt it,
challenge yourself to name a single
Labour policy, post-Corbyn. If you got
one, congratulations — and enjoy the
next shadow cabinet meeting.
Even now, as I wrote last week, there
is no sign of the voters warming to Sir
Keir Starmer. The Tories’ slump in the
polls has been driven far more by their
own errors: as the pollster James
Johnson says, Starmer “is really
struggling with the electorate, hasn’t
sealed the deal, is seen as uncharismatic,
lacking in vision, and not particularly
strong”. But he is still ahead of BorisJohnson. And the realisation is starting
to dawn in Westminster that if the
Tories’ travails continue, the Labour
Party might be in with a shot of forming
a government — not least because the
Tories don’t have any potential coalition
partners left.
So how is Labour actually doing
Starmer has certainly professionalised
his party’s organisation, and tried his
best to fix its finances — both left in a
shambolic state by Jeremy Corbyn. But it
is still not firing on all cylinders. Name
recognition for the shadow cabinet is
abysmal. Even with the local elections
looming, the party hasn’t put a press
release on its website for three weeks, or
updated the accompanying “stories”
section for more than six months.
The installation of Rachel Reeves as
shadow chancellor — a woman so
perfectly cast for the role that she had a
picture of a young Gordon Brown as her
pin-up at university — has certainly
helped to sharpen the party’s
positioning. Labour constantly stresses
her credentials as a former Bank of
England economist.
That said, Labour’s policy platform is
still drawing heavily on the Corbyn/John
McDonnell playbook, in which a few
small tax hikes on the evil rich can pay
for all manner of goodies for the rest ofHe doesn’t have to
be Tony Blair. The
Conservatives
don’t need a
Blair-style swing
to lose their
majorityThe ace up Starmer’s sleeve is something the
Tories can’t match: boring predictability
corrodes trust in all, so the
public’s disapproval cannot
be gauged by how many votes
shift between parties.
MPs know what Johnson
has done. It is up to them to
act.
Alan Renwick, professor of
democratic politics, University
College London
Conflict resolution
Credit where it is due:
Johnson has managed a
plausible performance posing
as a war leader, even
including a photo opportunity
in Kyiv — all of it no doubt
calculated to show that this is
no time to eject a gung-ho
prime minister over a minor
infringement of Covid laws.
The problem is, the UK is
not at war with Russia; it is
America that is leading the
West and picking up the
greater part of the bill; and
the heavy lifting on the part
of the UK is being done by Liz
Truss and Ben Wallace.
Breaking the law and
misleading parliament are
serious matters and should
not be overridden by a cameo
role, however creditable, in
an obscene conflict.
Graham Lane, Argelès, FranceThe Sunday Times,
1 London Bridge Street,
London SE1 9GF
Email: letters@
sunday-times.co.ukinvolved with earthly politics.
Our predominantly secular
population is not impressed
by being told of a mythical
being that disapproves of
government policy.
Bernard Rimmer, London EC2
Distract and conquer
I suspect this plan will come
to nothing in the end and
they know it. It’s inhumane
and will be too costly. There
will rightly be legal
challenges, which will allow
the government to point
fingers at “lefty lawyers”,
further stir up a culture war,
keep the base happy and
distract from parties.
Caroline Charnock,
Godalming, Surrey
God doesn’t vote
The socialist in clerical garb,
Justin Welby, is entitled to
express his opinions, but to
describe government policies
as against divine will is
ludicrous. The role of the
British government is to
advocate policies in the
perceived interests of the
British electorate. They are
not subject to any test of
divine judgment.
Alan Finlay, London NW4Space invader
You report that pretty English
towns are being invaded by
the customers of a giant US
corporation (Home, last
week). To see the results of an
Airbnb-led housing policy,
just visit the company’s San
Francisco headquarters. It is
surrounded by homeless
people, squatting on the
pavements and living in tents.
Peter Bryson, Addingham,
West Yorkshire
Lucked out
Robert Colvile argues that
“luck is Boris Johnson’s
greatest quality as a leader”
(Comment, last week). Luck
is not a quality of a person,
it is something that happens
to them ... and it can be good
or bad.
Janine Fischer, Kingston-on-
Thames
Understated exit
On the subject of last words
(Letters, last week), I arrived
at my father’s nursing home
just before he slipped away.
He opened his eyes and said:
“Hello, dear. I’m not feeling
so well today.” He died an
hour later, aged almost 95.When I relayed his last words
to my son, the reply was:
“That’s Grandad, the master
of understatement.”
Mary Ann Harris, Grange-
over-Sands, Cumbria
Confirmation bias
Your reader in Moscow,
Mergen Mongush, may be
onto something with anti-
English bias in Russian
writing (Letters, last week).
Take this extract from the
Odessa News, August 1959:
“The English officer is a
beautiful aristocrat, extremely
rich, and loves... suggestive
pictures, recherché food and
strong drink. His chief
amusements are gambling,
racing and sports.” If only!
Peter Baseby, Commander
Royal Navy (Retd), Oxford
Down to business
Rod Liddle hits the nail on the
head (Comment, last week).
The West pours aid into
Africa, but giving something
for nothing is a mistake. We
should follow the Chinese
way of direct investment.
They demand a return, and
are widely respected for that.
Julia Scott, BristolBabies suffer while
regulator looks on
I read your article “Drug
scandal that damaged 20,000
babies” (News, last week) with
sadness and shame. Sadness
for the families, shame that
our public servants allowed
this to happen — and are
allowing it to continue.
Ministers are not primarily
to blame for a scandal that
occurred over many decades
and governments. For that
responsibility, permanent
civil servants must look in the
mirror. Where are the formal
warnings from the Medicines
and Healthcare Products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of
this developing crisis?
Still it goes on. Women are
not being advised of the risks.
Babies are born with
avoidable disabilities. And the
worst of it is that it’s not just
sodium valproate. Other
common epilepsy drugs also
pose an increased risk to
unborn babies.
We need someone with
grip to sort this out. But not
from the MHRA.
Clare Pelham, chief executive,
Epilepsy Society
Lucky escape
Reading these reports, I felt as
though I had just missed
being hit by a train. I had my
children in 1995 and 1997
(Switzerland) and 1999
(Singapore). Before each
pregnancy I was assured by
my GP, gynaecologist and
neurologist that I shouldn’t
stop taking sodium valproate,
despite the fact that I rarely
had seizures. Fortunately for
my family, I decided to trust
my own judgment and
stopped taking it until I had
finished breastfeeding.
Here in France, they also
failed to warn women until
recently. Ironically, the first
time a pharmacist asked me if
I might be pregnant, I was
already in my fifties.
Natalie Triggs, Serres-et-
Montguyard, France
Balancing risk
Failure to inform someone of
the risks of treatment is
inexcusable, but the risks of
stopping treatment need to
be understood too. Epilepsycan kill women during
pregnancy.
I ran a pre-pregnancy clinic
from the mid-1980s. We
provided information to
women on the risks of
continuing, changing or
stopping epilepsy treatment,
and they differed in their
response. Many would go to
any lengths to ensure a
healthy baby; for others the
risk of losing their driving
licence or their own life were
deciding factors.
The problem you highlight
is that women planning
pregnancy were not always
given the information they
needed to make these heart-
wrenching decisions.
Sir Peter Rubin, emeritus
professor of medicine,
University of Nottingham
False promise
We were so lucky. A doctor
told my wife that she was OK
to try for a baby in 1993, even
though she was on sodium
valproate — but when she fell
pregnant they withdrew this
statement, and told us all the
horror stories. Luckily our
son has had relatively minor
issues compared with the
children in your report, but it
has affected his life.
Chris Tinkler, York
New drugs needed
Like many of my colleagues I
welcome your exposure of
the terrible consequences
from unnecessary prenatal
exposure to valproate.
However, the malaise runs
much deeper than this.
Valproate remains one of
the most effective anti-seizure
medications. The mistake is
to demonise the drug rather
than the system that has failed
to provide adequate advice
and specialist care, which
could have prevented harm.
Epilepsy is one of the major
causes of preventable
maternal deaths. Alternatives
to valproate, a drug that is
over 50 years old, are sorely
needed, and yet research is
chronically underfunded.
Professor Matthew Walker,
chair of trustees, Epilepsy
Research UKGay priests are
a true blessing
Richard Coles’s article on his
retirement (“Will I ever hear
‘More tea, vicar’ again?”,
Magazine, last week) was
excellent in many ways. It
was also, sadly, accurate
regarding the Church of
England and the issues faced
by its gay members. Coles’s
fruitful ministry will have
been enriched by the love he
shared with his husband — a
love that deserves to beThe business of
disrupting crime
For someone with a former
career in business, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
seems remarkably naive
about what is required to
disrupt the business model of
the cynical migrant
traffickers (“Shipping
migrants to Africa is ungodly,
Welby tells PM”, News, last
week).
They fleece their clients for
thousands of pounds in
return for a crossing that may
prove fatal. Putting up “all
welcome” signs on Kent
beaches will not change this.
The Rev Stephan Harker,
Lancaster
A punishing plan
Not only is the Rwanda plan
ungodly, it is against most
everything we hold dear in
UK law. Since when have we
punished victims of crime
rather than the criminals
themselves?
Vaughan Thomas, Norwich
Fiction faction
Justin Welby would be best
advised not to becomecelebrated. Bless you,
Richard.
Adele Phillips, Gateshead,
Tyne and Wear
Retire in peace
The Church of England
shoots itself in the foot when
it fails to fully accept gay
clergy. There are so many
who do great work in the
church despite the lack of
support — and there can’t be
any better example of this
than Richard Coles.
Margaret Auld, Rushden,
HertfordshireSecular epphany
I don’t believe in a god, but I
do believe in people like the
Reverend Richard Coles. We
need more of them, and a
community framework for
them to operate in, whatever
it may be called.
Peter Paul, Maidstone, Kent
Eternal minister
Have a blessed retirement,
Richard. I will also retire soon
— sort of: in the quaint phrase
we use in Methodism, I “sit
down”. I shall watch AFC
Rushden & Diamonds, play
guitar, walk the dogs and
watch my grandchildren
grow. But like you I shall still
do a bit of ministry — which, in
our denomination, includes
performing equal marriages.
Reverend Alan Jenkins,
Colchester, Essex
A new Sunday service
Please give Coles a regular
column. Both the paper and
the Church of England would
benefit from turning up the
volume on his gentle voice.
Elizabeth Trotman,
Huntingdon, CambridgeshireThe Rev Richard Coles performs his final service today1916 Irish republicans in
Dublin launch Easter Rising
1953 Winston Churchill is
knighted
1970 China launches its
first satellite
1980 Eight US servicemen
killed in failed attempt to
rescue 52 embassy staff
held hostage in TehranLaura Kenny is 30 todayLETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
ANNIVERSARIES
Letters should arrive by
midday on Thursday and
include the full address and a
phone number. We may edit
letters, which must be
exclusive to The Sunday TimesBIRTHDAYS POINTS
Dame Laura Kenny,
cyclist, 30
Gabby Logan, presenter, 49
Shirley MacLaine,
actress, 88
Bridget Riley, painter, 91
Roland Rudd, chairman,
Tate Foundation, 61
Barbra Streisand, singer
and actress, 80CORRECTIONS &
CLARIFICATIONSA picture in our story “Can
Elon Musk save Twitter?”
(News Review, last week)
showed Parag Agarwal, not
Dinesh D’Souza as the
caption wrongly stated.
Complaints concerning
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London SE1 9GF. In addition,
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Standards Organisation
(Ipso) will examine formal
complaints about editorial
content in UK newspapers
and magazines. Please go to
our website for full details of
how to lodge a complaint.War is no excuse
to keep liar PM
It was refreshing to read a
political commentator who
focused on Boris Johnson’s
moral turpitude instead of his
chances of “getting away with
it” (“In the Tories’ parallel
moral universe, a serial liar is
lauded as a winner”, Matthew
Syed, Comment, last week).
The notion that such a
person must be left in office
so he can bear the flag for
democracy and the rule of
law in the world is perverse in
the extreme.
Adrian Cosker, Hitchin,
Hertfordshire
Law unto himself
The prime minister is popular
precisely because the people
who vote for him know he is
prepared to break any law or
convention to succeed. The
mantra that he has been
“right on the big decisions” is
nothing more than a means to
excuse almost daily examples
of self-serving mendacity, by
claiming that decisions any
PM would make are somehow
due to his personal strengths.
Colin Hopkins, London WC1Boris is our Churchill
Johnson resolved Brexit, the
greatest political crisis of my
lifetime, and proved we are
still a democracy. On Covid,
every country got some
things wrong, but his
decisions on backing vaccines
were bold and effective and
saved many lives. And he has
led Europe and Nato in his
support of Ukraine,
galvanising a new sense of
unity and resistance to
tyranny.
Any one of these successes
would guarantee him a place
in history. We are right to
note his failings, but we
should also recognise that
this man will go down as the
most significant PM since
Churchill.
John Rhys-Davies, Isle of Man
Commons cause
Matthew Syed rightly rejects
the view that a decision on
Boris Johnson’s fate should
hang on next month’s local
elections. Most people will
have just one vote: they
should not have to use it up
sending a signal about
someone who isn’t even on
the ballot paper. Besides,
lying by one politicianJOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE
Your comments from
thesundaytimes.co.uk READERS’ POLLLast week we asked:
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This week’s question: Is Keir Starmer doing a good job as
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Have your say at sundaytimes.co.uk/pollNO
43% 57%YES
Sunday Times readers are an
endlessly surprising lot. A
case in point: your taste for
magic mushrooms. Benjamin
Ramm’s account of taking the
psychedelic fungus drew an
enthusiastic response from
online commenters.
“I’ve tried them a few
times and they’ve been
among the best evenings I’ve
ever had,” said Julie M. “It’scertainly the closest I’ve come
to a spiritual experience. It is
beyond me why mushrooms
are illegal and yet tobacco
and alcohol, which do far
more damage, are accepted.”
Most agreed about that.
Otherwise, there was a bit of
caution — “Do be careful. They
are potent,” warned Robert
Randall; a bit of practicality
— “Could have done with aforaging guide,” said Mrs M,
a little plaintively; and some
all-too-vivid recollection.
“Tried them once,” said
NeoKev. “Spent a blissed-out
evening talking to Kate Bush.
Transpired I’d been
conversing with a wardrobe
door.” Ah, we’ve all been
there.
Madeleine Spence reported
a study showing that the morewe lie, the easier we find it. It
didn’t mention politicians.
Almost every comment did,
though, and one politician in
particular. “Who was the test
subject? Boris?” asked Janice
Lindsay. “Everyone has had
the same thought,” grumbled
Grumpy git. The most liked
comment wasn’t subtle but it
was, at least, straightforward:
Jonny Brick simply postedthe word “Johnson” —
repeated eight times.
Finally, Jeremy Clarkson
installed a home gym.
Readers were amused but
unimpressed. “I’d normally
say it’s never too late to
improve one’s fitness, but.. .”
Mean Jean was too kind to
finish that sentence. Plinky
Plonky reckoned JC was on
the wrong track: “Dear fellow,go for a brisk 45-minute walk
in the countryside with a dog
every day. It works. My wife
says I now look like a Greek
god. Well, one of the older
ones.” And Pat McGrath
enlisted another workout
refusenik, with a quote from
Oscar Wilde: “Whenever I get
the urge to exercise, I lie
down until it passes.”
Stephen Bleach