Keir Starmer is showing leadership on vaccine passports by going against public opinion

The Labour leader looks as if he has got off the fence to oppose an unworkable scheme, writes John Rentoul

The Labour leader visiting Sheffield yesterday (Getty Images)

One of the laws of politics is that it is no use saying, “It’s more complicated than that.” Just as it is one of the laws of journalism that “the headline is the story”. So it is no use Keir Starmer complaining about The Daily Telegraph’s front page lead story this morning, headlined, “Starmer: Vaccine passports un-British.”

That is not quite what he said. What he actually said was that it was complicated – “I think this is really difficult and I’m not going to pretend there’s a clear black-and-white, yes-no easy answer on this” – but that if “we get the virus properly under control, the death rates are near zero, hospital admissions very, very low, that the British instinct in those circumstances will be against vaccine passports”.

So, yes, the headline was a fair four-word summary of what he said, without all the conditions attached. Therefore, it is fair to respond to The Telegraph’s reporting of its interview by suggesting that the leader of the opposition is actually opposing the government – even if a detailed textual analysis suggests that he has not quite shaken off his reputation for sitting on the fence.