Keir Starmer’s decision to ditch his biggest pledge to voters has given the Tories plenty of fresh ammunition for their “flip flop” attacks.
The Labour leader dithered over the future of the £28 billion spending pledge for months before finally taking an axe to it today.
What has left many Westminster veterans baffled is that it was only as recently as Tuesday that Sir Keir insisted it was staying put.
It has led to jibes that shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves is now really running the party.
Just last week she was decidedly lukewarm about the spending target and has repeatedly insisted the party must put fiscal discipline ahead of everything else.
The left of the party is furious, with former shadow climate minister Barry Gardiner branding the move “economically illiterate, environmentally irresponsible” as well as “strategically incompetent”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham accused Sir Keir of a “retreat” on green energy.
Labour mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram had called for Sir Keir to stick with the pledge just hours before it was dropped.
But figures on the right of the party said that while the principle was correct and the objective was clear, without knowing the economic situation a Labour government would be left with it is better to “stay cautious and focused on the prize”.
“And if things start to be weaponised, we gotta lance the boil,” the insider added.
One frontbencher insisted most MPs were ok with the decision but were “cross” about the way it has been handled.
It shows that Sir Keir is resolutely focused on winning the general election in a way that the party has not been for many years.
But voters would be forgiven for asking what the point of a Labour government is when it has failed to show a clear vision for what it would do if it actually takes power.
