For many of us growing up in the 1970’s the TV superhero Hong Kong Phooey was a regular fix on our televisions, despite only running for one series of 16 episodes. Mild mannered janitor, Penry Pooch by day, and superhero by night, ably ‘assisted’ by his sidekick Spot the Cat.
Oddly this bumbling character seems an early metaphor for the Starmer government with its bumbling mild mannered Prime Minister and his trusty sidekick Morgan McSweeney, constantly making U-Turns and never really being seen for who he really is by the people around him.
A former bumbling Prime minister coined the phrase “Captain Hindsight” which does sum up his record with a massive seven U-turns before he even got to 10 Downing Street and a further 15 (and counting) since. Perhaps the opening titles to Hong Kong Phooey could be changed for the modern era to:
Captain Hindsight
Who is this super hero?
McSweeney? No.
Angela, the brash northern Deputy? No.
Keith, the mild-mannered PM? Could be!
As of February 2026, the Keir Starmer government has made 15 major U-turns costing the British Economy over £8 billion (est) since taking office in July 2024. These reversals, often following backbench rebellions or legal challenges, include significant shifts on taxation, welfare, and civil liberties.
The problem for Labour is not only the number of U-Turns, but the fact that 15 of them have been on major front line policies, from tax to social care, from workers rights to human rights, and the feeling that it creates in the country is that you really cannot rely on Labour to have your back.
What’s more they have impacted on the economy, and at a time when Brexit is depressing out exports to our largest trading block, causing major financial distress for our exporters, and the Trump government is playing Hokey-Cokey with international tariffs, all this does nothing to bolster the investment markets and generate the much-needed growth.
With only 19 months of this Government having passed (leaving up to 44 months remaining), scandal after scandal, U-turn after U-turn, and a leader under fire from all sides (including his own), the Starmer Government is very quickly descending into lame-duck territory.
Couple this with the Conservatives falling apart before our eyes, and whilst right now it is Reform UK and the Greens who appear to be benefiting in the opinion polls, there is a lot of good will out there for Liberal Democrats. What we now need is to gel that good will around a philosophical message that resonates with the mood of the country.
Whilst caring for carers is a good social message, it is the underlying economic chaos that we really need to harness. Whether it is providing care, providing health, providing education, or providing leisure, we need to start linking that message to the economy. If we can do that then we might just recapture the centre ground across the country, and propel ourselves forward on the national stage.
* Iain Donaldson is the treasurer of the Rochdale Liberal Democrats.
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4 Comments
Of all the the U-turns so far, being forced to go ahead with council elections that Labour and Conservative councils – and one Lib Dem council – sought to avoid, will probably result in even bigger gains by ReformUK than would have been the case had they not tried this undemocratic trick to avoid facing the voters.
The issue now is what is to be the Liberal Democrat response. Far from Hong Kong Phooey, the Nation wants Batman and Robin and the Lib Dems are offering ‘Danger Mouse’ and his trusted sidekick, ‘Penfold’! Renaming the Treasury as some ‘phantom’ Department for Growth will do nothing for an economy largely dictated by world prices and a 20% devaluation of sterling against other major currencies.
Michael, when it comes to Daisy’s proposals to take the responsibility for economic growth out of the Treasury and into and new department of growth I am reminded of the words of the Roman General and politician Gaius Petronius Arbiter, who said:
“We trained hard—but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we were reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while actually producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”
I would also question the point of a department of growth, or indeed a treasury, that has no control over inflation, a major determining factor in economic growth.
I believe it was the Wilson Government that also put forward proposals to renane the Treasury for the Department for Economic Planning back in the 1960s.
Former Conservative MP turn Broadcaster, Jacob Rees Mogg once referred to Prime Minister David Cameron as ‘Bagpuss’ in relation his dealings with Lib Dems in the Coalition Government and called on him to invoke that of the Shakespeare play of Henry V by “imitate the action of a tiger; stiffen the sinews, summond up the blood”. Clegg always believed in muscular liberalism, perhaps Ed Davey will too.