Starmer has little choice but to bind himself closer to his chancellor

"When Keir Starmer was mounting the case for the prosecution against Boris Johnson for his Partygate antics, it took almost two months and a police investigation for him to formally call for the prime minister to resign. He was of the view there was no point calling for things until they were likely to happen. This is not the philosophy of the current leader of the opposition."

"Resignations have been coming thick and fast, from Angela Rayner to Peter Mandelson, and now the departure of Richard Hughes from the OBR over an embarrassing shoddiness in their cybersecurity, which meant the whole budget was leaked early. Starmer defends Reeves: has she been economical with the truth? | The Latest But the reality is that prime ministers almost never sack their chancellors and when they do it almost inevitably leads to their own downfall."

"After this budget, Starmer knows the same is true of him and Reeves. The decision not to proceed with a manifesto breach on income tax cannot be understood without the context of needing to preserve Starmer's own political survival. Starmer assembled journalists at a community centre in Southwark on Monday morning to try to bring attention back to the fundamentals in the budget the cut to energy bills, the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, and to promise more investment, deregulation and reform."

Keir Starmer waited almost two months and a police investigation before formally calling for Boris Johnson to resign, believing premature demands were pointless. Kemi Badenoch repeatedly urged Starmer to sack his chancellor over a rental-license mishap and tax-scare moments. Multiple departures occurred, including Angela Rayner, Peter Mandelson and OBR official Richard Hughes after a cybersecurity lapse leaked the budget early. Prime ministers almost never sack chancellors, and such sackings typically precipitate a prime minister’s downfall. Starmer avoided a manifesto breach on income tax to protect his own political survival and emphasised budget fundamentals like cuts to energy bills, lifting the two-child benefit cap, investment, deregulation and reform.

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