I do think that there are issues with Symonds. She had an affair with the then Foreign Secretary and neither her nor Johnson saw a problem with security arrangements for some reason. That alone says both their judgements are highly flawed. Not because of the affair itself but because of the going out of their way to lose the security.
The Press will run with this as an angle until the pair are out of No10. And for the same reason that dodging security was a bad idea, pissing off everyone in sight isn't a good idea because Symonds makes Johnson vulnerable.
Gove and Frost don't appear to get on well. However from reports they do seem to have a common enemy.
If thats true, then I doubt that they will be alone in this. And I also doubt it can be resolved and thats going to be an ongoing issue.
It is interesting that Johnson's financial situation is cropping up here again too. Its not the first time its been heavily suggested that Johnson's lifestyle is beyond his means.
As for Starmer yes.
Though its also interesting that this week its been pointed out that Sunak's economic policy was very similar to the one Labour had held up for the 2017 election and had been surprisingly popular. I've also seen comments about Northern Bonds and Covid Bonds from both parties. If you cast your mind back to Johnson's launch of his 2019 election campaign in Manchester his 'vision for the north' was almost identical to Andy Burnham's plan for Manchester which was much less well known and publicised. Johnson's launch went down a storm and left Labour in a difficult position with not a lot else to say.
Starmer is being constantly out manoeuvred and again i stress, is avoiding difficult or controversial subjects and trying to play things safe, whilst the party endorses all this very divisive identity politics.
Interestingly i am hearing (particularly from friends in a key northern marginal) people increasingly getting fed up of identity politics dominating agendas whilst simultaneously managing to spectacularly miss the point and actual problems.
Local elections will be interesting. I am not expecting Labour to do as well as they should be. Likewise I have my suspicions that the LDs may not do too well either.
I find myself finding it increasingly difficult to decide who to vote for tbh.
Starmer isn't giving me something to vote FOR. Voting Labour is only about voting AGAINST the Conservatives. And thats an issue because it affects turnout and motivation for campaigning for Labour in a big way. And unless Starmer decides to take a few risks and find some passion for people to get behind, he's not going to win the vote of the younger Gen Xs /older Millennials he needs. That 35 - 50 age bracket is still key - and has been the swinging vote in the last two elections. And I'm not convinced I know what Labour is currently offering it. There still isn't enough younger Labour voters to tip the balance and I'm not convinced there will be in 5 years time yet either.