Barely more than a week ago, Keir Starmer was saying his government was about to enter an exciting new stage, ‘where we start to show what a difference the Labour government really makes’.
But just a few days later, he had lost his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, to a tax row, was rushing through a cabinet reshuffle, and facing an unwanted contest for deputy leader of the Labour party.
Guardian columnist Rafael Behr discusses what it all means for Starmer and whether – after just over a year in office – his embattled government can recover from here.
Photograph: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street
