As Starmer continues to navigate internal party turmoil, Boris Johnson's past pandemic blunders resurface in the Covid inquiry, casting a shadow on his political comeback...Read all about it in this week's Who's Top Who's Not!
Flying high: Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak enjoyed his time hosting the AI Summit, especially compared to his usual stress-inducing COBRA and Cabinet meetings. He hailed the summit as a diplomatic breakthrough after it produced an international declaration to address risks with the technology. Those attending included the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, award-winning computer scientists, executives – and THE enigma that is Mr Elon Musk.
Sunak secured the star power and even invited Elon to Downing Street for a fireside chat. It certainly was a nice distraction for the Prime Minister who will be back to reality next week with the King’s Speech.
Middle of the road: Keir Starmer
With internal Labour frustration brewing against Starmer, he was forced to set out and defend his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict, arguing a ceasefire would leave Hamas with the ability to again carry out ‘the sort of attack we saw on 7 October’ and would embolden the terror group. Many of Starmer’s frontbenchers and MPs have been calling for a ‘ceasefire’ at odds with the leader’s position.
He defended his position whilst implicitly giving permission to his frontbench to disagree without being sacked. The Labour leader said he ‘understood’ why frontbenchers in his party were calling for a ceasefire, and that he would not take action against them for doing so.
The risk may be paying off currently but with the events in the Israel-Hamas war out of his control, more events in the conflict may call for further demands for a ceasefire. This could lead to a painful U-turn. Additionally, the number of Labour frontbenchers breaking from their party’s formal position has risen to 16 meaning the chance of mutiny has not been totally scuppered.
Slowly sinking: Boris Johnson
The Covid inquiry was underway this week and the knives were well and truly out.
Boris Johnson wasn’t in attendance, but his ears must have been burning. His former No.10 team published some of his WhatsApp messages from during the pandemic. Lee Cain, Johnson’s communication chief, aired out his dirty laundry sharing Johnson’s blunt views on the second national lockdown in October 2020: ‘We should let the old people get it [coronavirus] and protect others’. ‘The median age is 82-81 for men & 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.’
Johnson also once suggested that Covid was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, it emerged. Lee Cain admitted the pandemic was the ‘wrong crisis’ for Johnson’s ‘skill set’ and the dither and delay could have impacted the number of people who lost their lives to the virus.
For Johnson, a man who feels that his time as Prime Minister was cut short, the Covid Inquiry will undoubtedly put a dampener on his wish to return to politics and the spotlight. With a whole generation of families across the UK severely impacted by the crisis, it will make it hard to imagine a scenario where any of them would want to see Boris Johnson back in public office.
For the current Conservative Party, the threat is that this inquiry reminds the public of Conservative incompetence and scandal, and further taints Sunak’s government with the same brush.