Keir Starmer was harassed by Waspi women but this is of little concern to him

The plain truth is that it has long been highly unlikely that this Government or its Conservative predecessors would compensate women affected by changes to the state pension age.

The institutional failure was less serious than the Post Office or infected blood scandals, but the potential bill for the government was huge.

And ministers are not really loaded with money.

The problem for Sir Keir Starmer is that there was a spectacular failure of expectation management.

He might point out that this was not a promise in his general election manifesto, just as it was not a promise in the Conservative manifesto either.

But Sir Keir’s words and actions, and those of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, including photographs of him with campaigners for Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI), gave those campaigners the impression that That Labor is on their side. ,

But when it came to financial compensation, they were not.

Labor in opposition could not help but sympathize with those who felt wronged by the government.

And Waspi campaigners, largely, concluded that their sympathy would mean Labor would have to pay.

Accusations of hypocrisy and betrayal are once again blowing in Westminster.

In an age of already hurricane-force political skepticism, these latest outbursts will perhaps topple some more of the trust that any administration can be trusted with.

The Labor front bench looked stooped, stooped and sad today – the realities of government proving overwhelming after less than six months in office.

The cancellation of winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, announced in July, is still making headlines.

The government has a guiding mission to provide economic growth, but the economy is shrinking.

And you’re almost as likely to see a tractor on Whitehall as you are a red London bus, given how angry some farmers are about the budget.

Then there is the increase in employers’ national insurance which has hit all businesses and charities.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Nigel Farage and Reform UK feel this is an opportune moment for them to seize, if they can convince voters that neither the Conservatives nor Labor are capable of improving lives. May be capable.

I was struck by Farage’s tone in describing his visit to Donald Trump’s Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago.

He told me how positive, optimistic and encouraging the whole thing was. The contrast he wanted to make with a sad Blighty was not subtle.

And make no mistake, Reform may only have five MPs, but senior figures at the top of both the Labor and Conservative parties view them with genuine fear.

Their only solution, ultimately, is to be able to prove that they can deliver results.

And yet here and in other comparable Western democracies, governing in the 2020s is looking extremely difficult.

Any brief notion that Labour’s landslide general election victory would herald a definitive peace in Westminster has long since evaporated.

It’s likely that 2025 will be a turbulent and angry one, with impatient voters watching.