Ministers can raise taxes if they come out fighting. But no one in this cowardly Labour government seems able | Aditya Chakrabortty

"They have just done a spot of electoral marketing, a photo op at a supermarket 100 or so miles from Westminster, and what they've brought home is the politics of the staff. They'd all voted for Boris. In this parliamentary office of dull green carpet and brown furniture my interviewee wears a mask of disbelief. Workers backing an Etonian! One said, He's a laugh, innee?' They all laughed. Fancy giving your vote away so cheaply!"

"Yet now the British government is defined by its inability to argue. Observers rarely point this out, perhaps because it is masked by Labour's facility with blank slogans (Change) and production line of detailed policies. But fighting? This government is constitutionally incapable of such a thing, because that would involve picking sides and making enemies. Can you think of one group, one section or vested interest with whom ministers have traded blows? Not greedy bankers, extractive private-equity barons."

A politician's campaign approach treats staff and voters as customers whose preferences must not be challenged, discouraging substantive questioning and confrontation. Labour secured a large but shallow majority through careful, slogan-driven messaging and detailed policy rollouts. The current administration displays an aversion to picking sides or making enemies, which limits its willingness to fight entrenched interests. Observers often overlook this because polished slogans and policy production mask the absence of political combat. Ministers have avoided open clashes with groups such as bankers and private-equity firms. The political culture rewards consensus and customer-pleasing over adversarial accountability.

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