Keir Starmer's on the brink – but he's exposed Rayner, Streeting and Burnham as cowards

Westminster is a circus, and this Cabinet of clowns is eating itself. The rest of us should at least enjoy the show.

With Keir Starmer facing an ever-growing list of MPs demanding he resign, Labour is tearing itself apart barely two years into Government. Now, Labour is so bereft of talent from within its swollen parliamentary ranks that it needs to plot a way for the Mayor of Manchester to march back into Parliament and save them. Already, the rebels are being praised. But where was the bravery of these plotters months ago when the Mandelson scandal broke?

Where were Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting or Angela Rayner when Starmer pressed ahead with the disastrous appointment of the Prince of Darkness in the first place? Where were they during the endless U-turns, the attacks on pensioners, the insults to our veterans and the proclamations of EU alignment that nobody voted for?

Throughout all of that, they stayed silent, and they stayed loyal. Starmer's ducklings kept their heads down and hoped nobody would notice.

But now? Now Labour has lost 1,500 council seats, and suddenly their spines have miraculously reappeared.

Yet not because they have developed a newfound patriotism. No, because they are terrified they'll need to find a new job come the next election.

This is politics in its purest, ugliest form. It is not governing, and it is certainly not serving the public. It is naked self-interest masquerading as principles.

Those of us who predicted this disaster from the beginning have every right to feel vindicated.

We said Sir Keir would be weak on immigration. We said his European obsession would betray Brexit voters. We said the endless flip-flopping would destroy trust. And we were right.

The damage is already done, and the distrust in Labour is embedded. Broken promises and cronyism have shattered whatever faith was left in this Government.

MPs are now scrambling to save themselves and seeing everything through the myopic lens of their own self-interest.

Have they learned nothing from watching the Conservatives tear themselves apart?

Apparently not. Labour is replicating the exact same circus that destroyed Tory credibility, except without the ruthless efficiency that meant a Tory PM could be put out of their misery quickly.

And what is their grand plan? Install Andy Burnham. Find him a nice, safe seat. Shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic whilst pretending this represents "change".

As if anyone in Britain is lying awake at night fretting about Mr Burnham's pathway to Parliament when their energy bills are through the roof, immigration figures keep climbing, and our defences lie in ruins as the world sets itself ablaze.

Politicians wrongly believe politics is about governing. The rest of us know better. Politics is the endless machinations, the self-advancement, the fatal mistake of confusing your personal interests with the interests of those you claim to represent.

History teaches hard lessons to those who act without thinking. After Julius Caesar was assassinated by the Senate, Rome erupted in riots and civil war. Is shafting Starmer to install Burnham going to end any better?

The sclerotic Labour Party should have acted long ago, when it was in the national interest to show Starmer the door. And to think the arrogantly self-titled King of the North is the solution is laughable.

When the parliamentary mob starts getting an appetite for wielding the knife, they sink it in deep to whomever they fancy. Perhaps rebellious Labour MPs will turn on him next. Perhaps this whole sordid mess will simply accelerate calls for what most of us have known is needed since the day Sir Keir took office.

The clowns can keep fighting among themselves. The public has already made up its mind: they want this shambles gone and a general election called.