Keir Starmer scored a decisive victory against Boris Johnson – a day after the Prime Minister resigned. The Labor leader took a calculated risk by pledging to stand down if fined for breaking lockdown rules. Now he is rehabilitated – too late, because the lawbreaker has already defeated himself.
We may observe that Starmer would not have made this promise unless he was assured that he would not be served with a penalty notice, but that was undoubtedly a risk; he took it and won the gamble. Durham Police concluded that the gathering at Miners’ Hall in April last year was legal “due to the application of an exception, namely reasonably necessary work”.
So if Johnson still held on to the post, Starmer would have a huge advantage at Prime Minister’s Questions next week. He would be advised not to milk it himself—no one likes someone who proclaims his own moral virtue—but others could point it out for him, and he could ask about crime and mention the rule of law.
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