{"id":955546,"date":"2026-05-12T20:40:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:40:23","slug":"james-obrien-nails-the-addiction-to-ugly-drama-in-british-politics-since-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/955546\/","title":{"rendered":"James O&#8217;Brien nails the &#8216;addiction to ugly drama&#8217; in British politics since Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>James O\u2019Brien has highlighted how the resignation pressure on Keir Starmer demonstrates the addiction to drama that has developed in British politics post-2016. <\/p>\n<p>This week, Starmer has faced a rebellion from Labour MPs calling on him to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelondoneconomic.com\/politics\/how-does-the-labour-party-replace-its-leader-406071\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resign as prime minister<\/a> or set out a plan for a transition of power to a new leader in the coming months. <\/p>\n<p>The calls for his resignation have come from all sides of the Labour Party, whilst voices on both ends of the political spectrum would like to see Starmer go. <\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelondoneconomic.com\/politics\/chaotic-beth-rigby-gaffe-is-straight-out-of-the-thick-of-it-406077\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chaotic Beth Rigby gaffe is straight out of The Thick of It<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Others have despaired at yet another round of Westminster psychodrama, something many had hoped was a thing of the past now the Tories were no longer in power. <\/p>\n<p>But no, it seems turmoil and chaos is now a permanent feature of British politics, on the left and right \u2013 and as a nation we\u2019re addicted to it. <\/p>\n<p>This was neatly summed up by LBC presenter James O\u2019Brien, who pointed to the 2016 Brexit referendum as being a watershed moment in British politics. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the great tragedies of post-Brexit politics,\u201d he said, \u201cis that we as a population have fallen into the trap of thinking that an outward veneer, usually fraudulent, of bonhomie is somehow preferable to dullness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although he was critical of Starmer for his \u201cdullness\u201d failing to deliver what it was supposed to \u2013 \u2018competence, efficiency, results and tangible improvements\u2019 \u2013 he said the impact of 2016 could not be ignored in all this. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are also questions about whats state the country is in,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe have become addicted to this madness and this drama, it\u2019s ugly. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t remember what life was like before 2016, before the British public was given permission to believe whatever it wanted to believe, regardless of facts or evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2018We have become addicted to this madness!&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>James O\u2019Brien believes Keir Starmer\u2019s \u2018dullness\u2019 has failed to deliver in a political era which has become dominated by \u2018ugly drama\u2019. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UdnVQzgqNk\">pic.twitter.com\/UdnVQzgqNk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LBC (@LBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBC\/status\/2054138849920422283?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James O\u2019Brien has highlighted how the resignation pressure on Keir Starmer demonstrates the addiction to drama that has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,60136,807,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-955546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-james-obrien","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116563543998396138","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}