David Higham: Any idea on what basis Iain Martin thinks Starmer is Britain's most inherently left-wing PM ever? Because I haven't got the faintest clue what he's on about.

Any idea on what basis Iain Martin thinks Starmer is Britain's most inherently left-wing PM ever? Because I haven't got the faintest clue what he's on about.

What he describes is a classic case of projection. It's all the things that someone like Boris Johnson does when they have the power.

Well if he's anything like as left-wing and effective as Attlee we might see some real progress.

Quite.

This sort of over-boiled nonsense is going to become less and less relevant in the months ahead. Just waiting for the new media out-riders to appear now.

Call me old fashioned but I rather hanker after the less partisan coverage of the past.

It certainly became worse after 2015, partly because partisan noise was a function of a party at war with ‘enemies’ or itself, and taking the heat out of government comms would be wise given the depth of the challenges. But…clicks.

'Inherently' is just one of those modifiers that Fleet St uses to say silly things without really saying them. Cf. 'effectively', 'arguably' etc

"inherently" incoherent ... you can see the steam of puce rage billowing out of every phrase in that demented right-wing paragraph.

What's the point of winning an election if he doesn't do all that?

There seems to be a tendency in right-wing journalists to assume that anyone else actually being allowed to govern is some sort of affront. I think they are in for a shock at the extent to which Labour don't give a fuck what Tory courtier journalists think.

They mean “someone who will do things I don’t like” or “not one of us” but it’s much more funny if you substitute the word competent whenever they use it

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