"What Is Wrong With Starmer?"
Some people feel Sir Keir Starmer is somehow ‘other.’ Richard Littlejohn has dubbed him Max Headroom ‘and not just because of his ridiculous Cornetto-style hairdo.’
This wouldn’t be the first PM to be seen as an oddity - remember how the Guardian’s John Crace called Theresa May ‘the Maybot’? Twenty years ago Simon Heffer discussed whether Gordon Brown might have Asperger’s Syndrome which is related to Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Among other things ASD involves difficulties with social interaction and use of language. It covers a very wide spectrum, ranging from those who are a bit awkward in communication to a few who cannot speak at all. An estimated one per cent of the UK population are affected. This questionnaire lists possible indicators and is used by many medical professionals as part of their attempts to diagnose the condition. Please note the link is for interest only - most of us are not doctors or educational psychologists!
It is a condition, not an illness, and it can be very useful. The reason we live in such luxury without the mass use of slaves is that some of these marginal types have helped develop our technological civilisation. For example the autism expert Simon Baron-Cohen is ‘fairly certain’ that Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein fitted the criteria for Asperger’s.
Since we are social animals, someone who is on the upper part of the ‘spectrum’ finds others hard to deal with, and vice versa. The world can be frighteningly unpredictable - ‘why did he hit me?’ - and it may be easier to retreat into a sphere that one can understand and control.
The flip side of extended attention span and ability to master detail is intolerance of contradiction and opposition. Perhaps this is why Starmer prefers the matiness of Davos to Westminster’s ‘tribal shouting place.’ Maybe it also explains why he characterised violent protestors as ‘right wing thugs’ without adding that there were others at the rallies who might have a legitimate grievance; and why he felt he could swiftly jail online commenters who said factually incorrect or offensive things rather than issue stern warnings and guidance.
Starmer lacks Tony Blair’s oleaginous quality; his is like the autist’s ‘my way or the highway’ attitude, and if he continues with a high-handed approach he may well experience enduring difficulties in his relations with the British people, so few of whom validated his government in July.