You just have to look at what he's doing to see that, he's not even trying to hide it now. Stopping cyber security monitoring ffs might as well just send Putin his password (its Trump1234 btw) and have done with it.
I think you're right about Starmer, but I think it's a bit more than keeping his powder dry, I think he and the rest of Europes governments are shit scared at the implications of this and haven't a clue how to react to Shitgibbons theatrics.
If WE know Article 5 is dead in the water, then it's a safe bet the intelligence services are pretty sure too, and that this information is nurdling away in Starmers ear. Problem is, knowing it and being able to do something about it in the short term are 2 very different things.
What we are doing, ie increasing defence spending, is the right thing to do, but we're not doing it quickly enough for the simple reason we can't afford it. The moment it starts to impact the man in the street is the moment the UK far right, led by the rubber faced walking fetish, start to agitate. It's a historically proven path. This is obviously the same scenario across Europe. It's particularly worrying when you read about the far right in fucking Germany gaining ground.
So Starmer has to be careful, and part of that is trying to stop Shitgibbon going all in, or more accurately, all out, with regards to Ukraine support in particular, and NATO in general.
I may be going all conspiracy theory here, but I do wonder if