Who is Keir Starmer? I mean, who is he really? A year of more into office, propelled into Downing Street with an enormous 170-seat Commons majority, our chameleon PM remains elusive. Unknowable.
His father was a toolmaker, apparently. But what does he want? Whose side is he on? Are there particular passions that drive him? What is he for?
Our Prime Minister: the walking paradox.
The human rights lawyer who wants to die on a hill over compulsory identity cards. The north London liberal who has gutted the overseas aid budget. The barrister – a King’s Counsel no less – who can only manage faltering performances in the House of Commons.
The man who told us Britian had become a ‘nation of strangers’ because of excessive immigration, only to disown his remarks weeks later. The election winner with personal ratings that are now through the floor (who, in any case, managed to win half a million votes fewer than Jeremy Corbyn did in 2019).
While his army of restless and underworked backbenchers are now plotting against the man responsible for putting them on the green leather benches in the first place.
Governing is hard, it turns out.
Yet Starmer could have made things easier on himself. For a start, the government’s communications have been shambolic – not helped by the general absence of political strategy since entering Downing Street and a revolving door of often sup-par backroom staff.
And who would have thought a PM with a 170-majority would struggle to get tricky proposals through parliament? But he’s managed it with the fiasco over the proposed welfare cuts – which are set to cost more!
So this week must be about offering the smack of firm government. Back to essentials. What does he want to do – for the country and for posterity. Clarify it. Construct the narrative. Polish the delivery of it. Believe in it. Sell it hard. There’s no need for full-blown ‘Starmerism,’ just something clear for his side to get behind.
Yes, he inherited a terrible hand – but welcome to politics. Fairness seldom gets a look in. And while never the greatest orator, Starmer now needs to deliver a speech that lifts a party and country crying out for reassurance.
A few years ago, his lack of showmanship used to contrast well with Boris Johnson. He offered steady-as-she-goes in response to the yo-yo politics of the mercurial post-Brexit Tory party.
That was then.
Now he must raise his game. Right now, Starmer’s ‘Steady Eddie’ persona looks more like listlessness, with the challenges of office washing over him.
A moribund economy, impervious to the micro initiatives offered up by the Treasury to make good on the promise of faster, sustained growth.
Dilapidated public services, run down after fourteen years of Tory austerity, with angry voters fed-up about paying more in tax and getting ever-less out of the system.
A world now full of uncertainty and fear as we drift into a frightening time of conflict and international tension.
Starmer needs to repurpose his whole approach. As he told the Sunday Times, he will be judged on whether ‘people’s living standards have gone up, whether they know their public services are getting better…and whether they feel safer and secure.’
Those are pretty sound metrics, yet a bland eve of conference announcement about new towns – that will take decades to deliver – is emblematic of his predicament.
He needs things to start happening in real time. The economy must show signs of recovery by the November Budget. Immigration has to be brought under control, now. Houses need be built, faster.
Keir Starmer has to show to a divided, disillusioned country that he has the stuff to turn the country around and make their lives better.
Or they will turn to someone else.
Tags: communications, Keir Starmer, Labour conference, leadership crisis
