Sir Keir Starmer has discovered the solution to fiscal responsibility: spend more money on the things that look expensive. His defence secretary quit yesterday over budget disagreements, which is exactly the moment a leader should double down on defence spending and explain why this is actually a sign of strength.
Starmer’s argument is that he has made “hard-edged” decisions. Hard-edged is what you call a decision when you want it to sound like it hurt you to make it, even though you’re about to announce you’re doing the opposite of what the pain was supposedly for. His party is collapsing internally. MPs are resigning. The public is confused about what the government actually does.
The response: more military parades.
The logic here is flawless if you don’t think about it. The country needs budget cuts. The party needs unity. The public needs confidence. Therefore, increase the defence budget and tell everyone this is what leadership looks like. When your own defence secretary says this is insane and walks out, that’s not a failure of the strategy—that’s just him not understanding the hard-edged nature of hard-edged decisions.
Starmer will lead the country through the chaos he’s created by spending money on things that move slowly down streets while soldiers march behind them. This is governance as performance art, except the performance is mandatory and the audience is legally required to pay for the props.