It seems like a distant memory now when Keir Starmer’s last reshuffle was being lauded by SW1 commentators as a shake-up that ‘exuded confidence’ and brought back ‘big beasts’. David Lammy has been working especially hard to undermine Starmer’s intended image of a top team with an eye on winning power. This weekend was no different…

On Times Radio David Lammy told Lucy Fisher that he doesn’t support these strikes:

“I don’t support strikes… It hurts working people… This is not a moment for posturing, standing on picket lines”

Which, regardless of backbenchers breaking Starmer’s no-striking edict, at the very least flies in the face of deputy leader Angela Rayner’s comments that the workers have been “left with no choice”.

Lammy’s comments on the rail strikes weren’t the only words out of his mouth yesterday to outrage unions. He also categorically opposed floated strikes by BA workers, leading to condemnation by Unite’s Sharon Graham who accused Labour of a “direct attack” on workers. There’s just one problem with this – it appears Lammy’s approach to strikes has changed someone since as recently as 2018…

This hard-line attitude from Lammy earned him a damning tweet from his own constituency Labour Party, which wrote “disappointed that our MP won’t stand side by side with his constituents on a picket line”

Disappointed that our MP won’t stand side by side with his constituents on a picket line. A serious MP joins the fight for the working class because that’s their role, to fight for the rights of their residents. #RMT #Strikes https://t.co/8PcwYIa6VL

— Tottenham Labour Party (@LabourTottenham) June 26, 2022

The revolution will eat its children, David…