Winter Fuel Allowance: show of hands humiliates Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at his own conference

Time after time, the Prime Minister declined the opportunity, instead choosing to avoid the chance to offer those who will go cold this winter some sympathy and instead pour more scorn on his predecessors in power.

Frankly, the Prime Minister should fire his communication advisers, because too many times already during his short tenure, his messaging has been found wanting.

Given the chance, as he was, is it too much to ask that he shows a little compassion - and contrition, perhaps - towards those pensioners who only marginally miss out on qualifying for the winter fuel allowance? Surely by ignoring and dismissing their plight, rather than acknowledging that it is a specific challenge that will require proactive, front-footed work to mitigate – and that work will be done – he reveals a side to himself and his party that is out of kilter with who and what the Labour Party is meant to stand for.

Fast-forwards to Labour Party Conference, an opportunity for Prime Ministers to appear leaderly, Prime Ministerial, even, and a show of hands rejected the grasp for pensioners’ pounds, shillings and pence proving that the membership agree: taking away old folks’ heating bill support at the coldest time of year is neither leaderly nor Labourly.

Frankly, the moment was as humiliating as his slip-of-the tongue confusing hostages with sausages was embarrassing. Put all of that together with hecklers and protestors, and with conference fading in the rear-view mirror, to coin an old Labour adage: things can only get better.