KEIR Starmer is set to make a vow to never make a deal with the SNP in Westminster as he tried his darndest to appeal to southern voters.
The ex-lawyer has a reputation for breaking promises, however, after he publicly promised that he was willing to break promises.
He made said promise to prove that he was fit to take office in No 10.
That’s Westminster, for you.
Indeed, last year Starmer said to the BBC that he was willing to break pledges he made in his leadership election campaign if that’s what it took to make Labour electable.
Starmer said: "I stand by the principles and the values behind the pledges I made to our members, but the most important pledge I made was that I would turn it into a party that would be fit for government, capable of winning a general election, I’m not going to be deflected from that.”
When he was asked what was more important, winning a General Election or party unity, he answered: "Winning. Winning a General Election."
Because the electorate famously loves being lied to.
It’s no wonder that the only politician to beat the Tories in a General Election since 1979 was Tony Blair.
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And now Starmer’s latest vow is to veto any deal with the SNP that could grease the wheels of indyref2 because he’s afraid of what the Tories might say.
According to Guardian sources, Starmer will be pushing the line that under no circumstances will he work with the SNP because the Tories might trot out a ‘coalition of chaos’ line so devastating that it will do to him what the anti-semitism row did for Corbyn.
It has been reported that his strategists are urging him to spike the Tory line before it takes root because of the “threat it is not just to the success for the party in Scotland but also how effective those attacks can be in England”.
However, Starmer might even find that the hardest to convince are his own supporters as concerns have been raised that they, in their wisdom, aren’t put off by the thought of a progressive alliance with SNP.
“There are parts of the party who still think we are on the same side,” one senior Scottish Labour source said.
It might just be possible that Starmer is listening to the wrong people.
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