The standard advice
for anyone finding themselves in a hole is to stop digging, but the ability to
follow that advice depends on the ability to recognise a hole when you see one.
Not all holes are immediately recognisable, especially if the digger believes
he’s engaged on an entirely different task, such as laying the foundations for
a really strong and robust wall.
That may be at the
heart of Sir Starmer’s problem over things like the winter fuel allowance.
Everyone watching him can see the hole getting deeper and deeper, with his
probability of being able to escape it rapidly diminishing, and the likelihood
of others being dragged in increasing with equal rapidity. His own loyal troops
are increasingly bewildered about his enthusiasm for shifting earth, and even
the Labour-supporting Mirror
is now telling him that it’s time to stop. To no avail. Every call to lay down
his shovel simply results in him expending even more elbow grease – and credibility
– on throwing even more soil out of the hole.
It makes little
sense unless the task he thinks he’s undertaking has nothing to with fuel or
pensioners, it’s all about demonstrating toughness. Sticking to a decision as
support for it drains away reinforces his self-image as someone willing to take
unpopular decisions (or ‘difficult’ decisions to use his preferred euphemism). From
that perspective, the more unpopular the decision, the better; the greater the
criticism, the more he feels encouraged. Every siren call to stop, every vote
lost as a result of the policy, merely strengthens his perception that he’s
showing his strength and determination.
I may have read
somewhere that his father was a tool-maker, although I suspect that the tools were
a little more sophisticated than mere spades. Maybe he imparted some knowledge
about choosing the right tools for the job. But one little life lesson that Sir
Starmer appears not to have learnt is about correctly defining the job before
selecting the tools. Unless he’s actually a Tory plant whose real task is to
destroy the Labour Party from within. Now there’s another possible explanation
which makes some sense of his actions.
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