Keir Starmer, you have two choices now sort your warring party out or call an election | Ed Davey

"It's nice, isn't it. The quiet. The now-infamous social media post produced by a Starmer supporters at the start of his time in office is now written only in sarcasm beside yet another terrible news headline. Rayner resigns: Nice, isn't it. The quiet; Mandelson sacked: Nice, isn't it. The quiet; the prime minister loses his chief of staff you get the picture."

"Around the time of that post, we had our glorious first conference in Bournemouth after winning our best election result in a century, and a prominent BBC journalist said to me: We won't have to cover the soap opera like before it's going to be about policy. Imagine being the leader of the Liberal Democrats, known for our torrents of policy, and being told this by a BBC journalist; the phrase pig in excrement comes to mind."

"He is a decent man; I did not see in him the same zest to attain power just for the sake of it. And like many people across the country I genuinely did want this Labour government to succeed. Regretfully, No 10: the Box Set continues from the last government, just with a new cast. Bad decisions on pensioners' warm home discounts, the farm tax and compulsory ID cards all showed a severe lack of judgment and that is before you get to the Mandelson debacle,"

A sarcastic social-media post framed successive political setbacks as 'Nice, isn't it. The quiet,' underscoring ongoing turmoil. Early hopes after the Bournemouth conference anticipated a policy-focused government rather than soap-opera politics. Keir Starmer is criticised for weakness on political reform, centralising instincts, and failing to resolve the cost-of-living crisis via a proper deal with Europe. Early government decisions on pensioners' warm home discounts, the farm tax, and compulsory ID cards illustrated poor judgment. The Mandelson appointment became a major debacle. Responsibility for persistent crises is presented as systemic rather than resting solely on one individual, with Conservatives previously reshuffling leadership.

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