As head of his chambers for 20 years, I can attest that Starmer's integrity was beyond reproach. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused him in his first televised debate of acting for terrorists, which of course he did, arguing his points of law on appeal. Under the “cab rank” ethical rule, lawyers are bound to take anyone who wants to hire them. Sunak got to work The timewho pointed out that I was obstinate about the rule and would not have allowed him to mock it by refusing to act for the demoniacs.
Sunak is a desperate man: even his ministers (most of whom are likely to lose their seats) accept defeat. But wait: he has a champion who has come to his rescue. None other than Tony Abbott, who writes the times that Britain under Starmer will have “the worst government in its history” (never heard of Liz Truss?) based on Starmer's “obsession with emissions” (ie he wants to tackle the climate change), his “compassion for the poor” (only Abbott could think that was bad) and that he could “go back to the EU”. Since Brexit has been the source of so many British problems, most voters they would be welcome with a little trash.
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In reality, 14 years of Conservative rule have left the country unimpressed and depressed. The obsession with appointing “people like us” to all public bodies has left the nation run by amateurs, incompetents and some visibly corrupt (eg with the COVID contracts). Tory ministers, now jostling to succeed Sunak when he steps down after 'Starmaggedon' next month, are all second-rate while genius racist Nigel Farage is doing his best to destroy the party by defending his rival from the right
How will the Starmer government begin to repair the damage? He will have much more respect for expertise and professionalism, and for a public service free from political preferences. Starmer will remain cautious on foreign policy – he alienated many in his own party by supporting Joe Biden in Gaza – but is likely to follow other European countries (and anger Israel) by accepting Palestinian statehood. And he certainly won't criticize the International Criminal Court prosecutor for seeking an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He might even accept the return of the Parthenon marbles, in a deal offered by the Greek prime minister that Sunak stupidly refused to comply with.
At all levels, Starmer's decision-making will be based on fidelity to the principles of human rights, which he believes are “capable of contributing to the realization of progressive change”. In fact, he credits the Human Rights Act with bringing him into politics: “it gave me a method, a structure and a framework with which I would test proposals.” Perhaps he would explain these and other advantages to Australian conservatives who were virulently opposed to Australians having their own human rights charter.
Starmer doesn't have the charisma of Boris Johnson or Tony Blair, but the charisma of politicians is vastly overrated. He has some of the workaholism of former Labor Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the intense seriousness of another former Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, but I dare suggest he has some of the qualities of the greatest of them all the liberal reformers, William Gladstone. This possibility should frighten conservatives. Gladstone was elected Prime Minister four times.
Geoffrey Robertson is the author of The Statute of Freedom: How Australians can reclaim their rights.
