Starmer in trouble? Time to take out the trash

This week, the media has been fixated on the Labour leadership crisis as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces down an insurrection from his own MPs, a Mayor, and one Cabinet minister (sort of). The psychodrama has provided political cover for a raft of bad news, uncomfortable announcements, and stories that might otherwise have attracted greater scrutiny. 

Of course, ‘taking out in the trash’ has been a time-honoured political tradition ever since Jo Moore, an advisor in the Tony Blair government, told colleagues that 9/11 was a good chance to ‘bury’ bad news. Here’s some of what went out in the bins this week as Labour scrapped over Starmer: 

The Green Party emerged as one of the big winners in last week’s devolved and local elections. With successes in Scotland, Wales, and dozens of councils, their leader - London Assembly Member Zack Polanski - has made the party a serious electoral force with growing ambitions for the next general election. 

But with a greater electoral footprint comes greater scrutiny. In the build up to the local elections it was revealed that Polanski and his partner lived on a narrowboat in East London for around three years without paying council tax for it. The Greens initially denied it was his primary residence but have since admitted that Polanski may have failed to pay council tax and that he has “taken steps to pay any… he may be found to owe”.

Perhaps encouraged by the relatively limited flak Polanski received for this revelation, the Greens slipped out that Polanski hadn’t even managed to re-register in time to vote in the very elections he was campaigning. 

The optics are awkward. He is the politician advocating for major tax rises and closing tax loopholes that exist in the system - the very gaps he now appears to have directly benefited from. But Polanski must realise that ‘do as I say, not as I do’ is an attack that tends to stick. In a different political climate either story might have had more of an impact, but Starmer’s showdown has - so far - provided him with sufficient cover.

Another figure who seems to have used Starmer’s crisis for cover is… well, Starmer. Amid the Parliamentary chaos of this week, the government quietly confirmed that 26 of the hereditary peers who had been removed from the House of Lords would be returning as life peers. 

Insiders know this was the price of getting the bill through. To secure passage of the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act, the government offered life peerages to an agreed number of hereditary members, allowing them to remain in the chamber by a different route. But the public by and large didn’t know, and so the government will be thankful it has received little public attention. 

Whilst the current occupant of Downing Street fights for his political life, the man the pollsters currently favour to succeed him is navigating a quagmire of his own. Nigel Farage, Reform UK’s boisterous leader, has been in hot water for the past few weeks after it was revealed he failed to declare a £5mn personal donation from a Thai-based British billionaire in 2024 (and keeps changing his story about it).

While the donation itself has received widespread scrutiny (although not as much as some people would like), less noticed was this week’s announcement by the Parliamentary Commissioner that they had followed through and launched a formal investigation. 

And the potential consequences for Farage are enormous. If the Commissioner finds he breached the MPs' Code of Conduct, the case passes to the Committee on Standards, which could recommend suspension from Parliament. A suspension of ten sitting days or more triggers the Recall of MPs Act, meaning just 10% of eligible voters in Clacton would need to sign a recall petition within six weeks for Farage to lose his seat and call a by-election (which, to be fair, he would probably win).

On its merits, and in another news cycle, Farage’s shifting story and dodgy cash should be the headline story of every paper, given Farage’s momentum in the polls and in last week’s local and devolved elections. And yet, Starmer’s fight for survival outshines it. 

Sadly, in the short term at least, burying bad news works. Trouble at the top allows scandal further down to simply blow over. But it can still come back to haunt a leader later on, something Polanski would do well to recognise and by not repeating their errors.