Starmer himself has weighed in on the Sarah Pochin advert row. He told the BBC:
“It’s shocking racism and it’s the sort of thing that’ll tear our country apart. And tells you everything about Reform. And Nigel Farage has some questions to ask. Either he doesn’t consider it racist which I think is shocking in itself or he does think it is and shows absolutely no leadership.”
Clearly his strategists think Starmer should double down on calling Reform racist on numerous elements. We’ll see how that goes…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”