‘Softy’ Starmer must find a nickname for Rishi Sunak

Perhaps the Labour leader’s team are stuggling to find a suitable insult for the prime minister, says Sean O’Grady

Keir Starmer was given a new nickname by Rishi Sunak during PMQs on Wednesday (PA)

Rishi Sunak used the first post-Easter Prime Minister’s Questions to roll out a new nickname for the leader of the opposition: “Sir Softy” Starmer. Thus far, Sir Keir hasn’t returned the insult but he has recently launched some highly personalised attack ads on the prime minister’s record. As the election approaches, the tricks are getting dirtier and the public discourse coarser.

Will the new nickname stick?

It may not. Like all political advertising, it has to speak to some kind of truth, however vestigial, and when it fails to do so then it can make the attacker look ridiculous. Thus, very early in Tony Blair’s leadership, the Tories attempted to dub him “Bambi” because of liberal idealism and big eyes. Then when he started to beat up the trade unions, taking on the Left and the Tories simultaneously, they turned him into a horror movie monster with the infamous “demon eyes” poster. Peter Mandelson, running Labour’s long campaign, found a bishop to condemn the Tories for dabbling with diabolism, and that was that.