New data shows football supporters at nationwide would rather vote Reform than back Labour. Fleet Street Fox argues Keir Starmer’s betrayal of the Hillsborough Law shows how good he is at own goals
There’s something about a blend of football and politics that makes for a heady brew. Perhaps it’s the tribalism, the down-to-the-wire elections, or the hope that, this time, your lot might finally be able to deliver. And, of course, the chance to shout at the telly for ignoring a BLATANT foul.
Maybe it’s just that both are run by men in suits who play with the happiness of millions, but more often than not leave you with an alleged meat pie and a deep sense of betrayal, while twatting around in a helicopter at our expense.
But walk into any match day boozer on a Saturday afternoon and you’ll hear the real state of the nation, filtered through lager, community and the honesty of people who know exactly whose side they’re on. Their debate is a full-blooded tackle, studs up and sod the VAR. That is perhaps why Prime Ministers don’t ever go there, and my but it shows.
For if he had ever set an Islington brogue into a pub within spitting distance of Anfield or Goodison Park, he would know the depth of fury that would greet his failure to implement the Hillsborough Law he has promised half a dozen times, and hummed and hawed about since missing his own transfer-it-to-statute deadline of April.
This, for those who don’t know, is a bill that would make it a crime for a public official to lie. Not just when a mistake leads to the witness box, but when writing the first report, when briefing a superior or the media. It would have protected young police constables who were ordered to rewrite their pocket books after official negligence caused a deathly crush among Liverpool fans at Hillsborough Stadium in 1989. It would have meant that 97 grieving families wouldn’t have had to fight for 20 years for the right inquest verdict. It would protect every little guy in the country, and make all the pompous fat cats keep their noses clean.
Scousers – even the ones who support the blue team – have been solid Labour for a century. They’ve been on the raw end of entitlement and London dismissiveness for too long to ever vote any other way, and their ballot papers are traditionally weighed rather than counted. But when the PM didn’t institute the Hillsborough Law “on day one” as he promised, when he missed the April 15 anniversary, and now as grumbles spread across Merseyside that it may never appear at all as a result of tinkering by civil servants who don’t fancy being subject to it – they’re snubbing Labour like it’s just turned up in a Man Utd shirt and a bucket hat.
A survey by More In Common has found that Liverpool has the lowest proportion of football supporters of any club in the country who’d back Starmer, at just 27%. Even that seems optimistic, when you consider the Runcorn by-election three months ago had a decent 46% turnout and Reform still pinched the seat by just 6 votes. Today you don’t need scales, but instead a microscope to count the majority.
Starmer has ducked and weaved, tried to placate the bureaucrat linesmen, and spent too much time dancing down the right wing. Despite having a team of 398 MPs, he has feigned a limp, tripped over his laces, and consistently failed to put the ball in the back of the net. It’s just not what you expect from someone who holds the premiership, Gary.
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And it’s not just the north west that feels let down. The survey shows the mood has turned sour on every terrace, with Reform top on the transfer list for fans of Premier League and lower league clubs, and even non-football fans. Football fans have long memories, and know when they’re being fobbed off by a crap manager and a lack of investment.
Hillsborough has deeper meaning in Liverpool and Sheffield, but its protections would resonate nationwide. Wages are stagnant, the NHS is in need of intensive care, and the waiting list for a dentist is worse than the queue for a Wembley final. On immigration, Starmer has failed to crow about the victories he’s had in bringing down some big name people smugglers, but even that has not stemmed the flow of huddled masses trying to be somewhere, anywhere, other than Afghnistan, Syria or Iran.
Into the void strides Nigel Farage, a yellow-trousered golf club bore who has never worked well in a team and wouldn’t set foot in a stadium unless there was a camera crew and a spotlight involved. Even then he’d station himself in a VIP suite, not the terraces. Imagine him, stood baa-ing about how awful the team is: a cup of something warm and wet might be thrown, but eventually, people would just decide to steer clear.
That’s what’s happening on Merseyside, where the disillusionment will never be enough to make them vote Tory but has already persuaded thousands to stay at home. It’s underway too in Manchester, Newcastle, London, at the Sunday morning municipal pitches and the after-school clubs: Labour is a dirty word where just a year ago it was the best hope.
People are tired of politicians who only turn up to wave a scarf once every 5 years. They’re fed up of soft-handed tossers putting up prices and neglecting the foundations, people who talk a good game but never actually play one. They want a government, and a team, they can be proud of.
Starmer promised all that when he took over, but he’s ignoring the commentary since, and there’s no analysis of what’s going wrong in Liverpool. When he turns up there next month for conference, the odds are he’ll be taking an early bath every night to avoid the people who aren’t his fans any more.
If Labour has lost Liverpool, and a football-playing PM has lost the terraces, then it’s the biggest own goal of all time. In football, as in politics, you can’t hope to win if you forget who you’re playing for.