Keir Starmer's Miserabilist Agenda Will Only Hurt Labour

Britain is only just beginning to recover from the last great culture war between Leavers and Remainers, and I can already see another one gathering on the horizon: between Roundheads and Cavaliers. Prime Minister Keir Starmer increasingly resembles Oliver Cromwell — banning this and abolishing that, warning and scolding, glowering over the country like a giant killjoy — and the Tories are feeling their way toward becoming the Party of Merrie England.

Cromwell started his parliamentary career in the 17th century much like Starmer, as a low-key figure who got on with both sides of the Puritan movement. One contemporary recalled the new MP wearing “a plain cloth suit and plain linen shirt.” Another marveled at the fact that he sat on no fewer than 18 committees. But he combined his low profile with a growing sense that he was on the side of Truth and Justice — “If here I may serve my God either by my doing or by my suffering,” he told his cousin, “I shall be most glad.” Once he had power, he exercised it with ruthless efficiency.