Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to attend the weekly Prime Ministers' Questions session in parliament in London, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) 2026 wasn’t supposed to be like this for Keir Starmer . Downing Street had planned, according to the prime minister’s top spin doctor Tim Allan, a “strong start” to the New Year. A series of announcements on how the government was going to tackle the cost of living were meant to get the embattled PM onto the front foot. Unbeknown to No.10, of course, Donald Trump had plans of his own that would blow everyone off course. Not content with bombing Venezuela and kidnapping the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, the US president has also ramped up the rhetoric on Greenland . America will take control of the Arctic island “one way or the other”, according to Trump, to the horror of European leaders, including Starmer. Throw in the uprising in Iran and it’s easy to see why the prime minister has struggled to seize the political initiative. He did finally make some headlines on Tuesday night – but not in the way he had hoped. To general bewilderment at Westminster, it was confirmed that t he government was ditching its plans to make it compulsory to carry state-sanctioned digital ID cards. That’s despite Starmer himself announcing the policy just four months ago with great fanfare. For those understandably struggling to keep count, it was the 13th major policy U-turn the government has performed since being elected in July, 2024. For MPs who were already sceptical about Starmer’s ability to improve Labour’s miserable poll numbers, it could prove to be the final straw. “People who are not normally as bothered by this issue are livid,” one MP told HuffPost UK. “It’s another case of them being made to look like utter fools.” A backbencher added: “We’re just running through the motions. The lights are on but no one is home.” Other MPs are just glad they no longer have to pretend to support the policy. “I never made a big deal of going out and defending it,” said one. “A lot of us just feel relief that we don’t have to flog it on the doorsteps.” Supporters of digital ID cards on the Labour benches are also frustrated by how the latest climbdown has been handled. One senior MP said: “It has ended up in the place that most MPs and the public advised it should start from. “I hope the damage hasn’t been done as it’s a very positive initiative that will help us to transform public services, give the public more control over their data, and make the user interaction with government better. “It doesn’t need to be mandatory as I’d be confident that the public will see huge benefits to having it so take up will be large.” No.10 officials are desperately trying to put a positive spin on Starmer’s latest calamity, insisting it is part of a strategy of ditching unpopular policies to focus on putting more money in voters’ pockets. They compare it to former Tory election guru Lynton Crosby’s infamous “get the barnacles off the boat” policy. However, critics point out that only works if the prime minister isn’t the one responsible for putting the barnacles there in the first place. The new year is only 14 days old, and Starmer once again finds himself fighting for his political life as a result of a wholly self-inflicted mistake. Related... Keir Starmer Ditches Compulsory Digital ID In 13th U-Turn Since Becoming Prime Minister 'Why Should Anybody Believe You?': Nick Robinson Monsters Labour Minister Over Latest U-Turn