In a Daily Mail opinion column, writer Sarah Vine argues that Sir Keir Starmer's premiership will be remembered as a "Trojan horse" that opened the door for a harder-Left successor, as Andy Burnham prepares to take over in Downing Street. She likens the situation to the Greek myth of the Trojan horse, suggesting Starmer's moderate, "safe pair of hands" image concealed his inability to control the left wing of the Labour Party, ultimately letting it seize control of government.

Vine writes that Starmer won a large majority on a historically low turnout by appealing to both centrist Conservatives and the metropolitan left, partly by suspending Jeremy Corbyn after the 2020 EHRC report on anti-Semitism and sidelining left-wing candidates. However, she contends he lacked the authority to resist pressure from his own backbenchers, pointing to rows over pensioner benefits, welfare reform, tax rises, business policy and VAT on private schools as evidence his growth agenda was undermined from within, paving the way for Burnham, whom she argues would never have won a general election in his own right.