Nigeria, June 29 -- There is a powerful lesson in the political fate of Keir Starmer, but it is not merely a British lesson. It is not about Westminster drama, Labour Party turbulence, or the familiar theatre of parliamentary politics. It is about a deeper principle without which no democracy can remain healthy for long: leadership only improves when failure has consequences.

That is the hard discipline of public office. Power must never be separated from responsibility. Authority must never be insulated from scrutiny. Failure must never be allowed to disappear into speeches, excuses, party loyalty or ethnic sentiment. Where consequences are credible, leaders think harder, prepare better, listen more carefully and act with greater urgenc...