'Crumbling Tories feel heat in concrete row but Labour must cement advantage'

09 September 2023 , 17:10

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Keir Starmer should have seized on the RAAC crisis, Keir Mudie says (Image: BBC/AFP via Getty Images)

They say never open with the weather but it’s hot, isn’t it? Have you noticed? It’s all anyone is talking about round here at the moment.

I’ve been grappling with my annual dilemma, to buy a fan or not. The Northerner in me doesn’t see the point of shelling out for something that, at best, you’ll only use a couple of days every year.

But the rest of me would welcome the relief. I dunno what to drink, what to eat, and sleep is only possible thanks to an hourly squirt with one of those misters that you normally use on houseplants. Unpleasant for all concerned.

This whole heatwave is making people extremely tetchy. There has been one of those proper back-to-school atmospheres in Westminster this week. Itchy, short-tempered, sweaty type of affair. PMQs was like that.

This illustration highlights what Keir Mudie feels Mr Starmer missed (Keir Mudie)

Rishi Sunak 'knows the game is up,' writes Mr Mudie (Getty Images)

Should have been an easy win for Keir Starmer. Mr Sunak knows the game is up, Mr Starmer doesn’t need to do much, and on we go. I thought Mr Starmer would have done better. He strikes me as a bloke who’d be good on concrete. Sort of a specialist subject. It didn’t land, though, which was strange.

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Schools, hospitals, God knows what else, made with materials that could bring the roof down at any minute. Open goal, surely. Still, there’s always next week.

Meantime, everyone I speak to is all hot and bothered. The topic of conversation in the pub the other night was: “Give me one good reason we live in this country...” and all we could come up with was Celebrity MasterChef – and that’s just finished.

It is tough at the moment. Everything’s falling down, the trains and buses don’t work, councils are going bust, wages are low and beer is expensive. And there’s a thing in the paper today about it being 100 or so days until Christmas. Sigh.

More optimistically, a couple of polls dropped. One with Labour at a 20-something point lead, the other – more sensible – with Labour at 16.

There’s still a great worry among those in the know, however, that the lead is soft and when the election comes – there are still rumours of sooner rather than later – it will be hard to get the vote out. A staffer said: “If people think it’s all sewn up, they start thinking what’s the point? Especially if it’s raining.”

Rain. Remember that? It’ll be back soon. You know what they say, in this country you’re never too far away from a rain shower, a rat or a Tory shambles.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan was the latest, caught on camera asking: “Does anyone ever say, ‘You know what, you’ve done a f***ing good job?” They do, Gillian, they do. Just not to anyone in Government for the past 13 years

Keir Mudie