Starmer needs to show some substance
Competent opposition does not an alternative government make.
Photograph by Chatham House on Flickr
Since Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader after almost five years of hard left rule, the party has enjoyed rising polling figures that had been languishing under Jeremy Corbyn. From a 23% deficit in early April to a relatively small lead of between 2-4% for the Conservatives this month, Starmer can point to this as a sign of success leading into the local elections next year. However, from the kerfuffle of the contact-trace system to the botched exam results, to the huge GDP collapse of 20.4% in the second quarter of this year, to the Dominic Cummings Barnard Castle saga, to the mixed messages on COVID-19 rules, the Conservatives still seem to have a lead over the Labour Party in the polls. Over the next few weeks, I will propose possible reasons for enduring Conservative strength, starting with the weaknesses of Keir Starmer.
Keir Starmer’s strategy since becoming Labour leader has been to distinguish himself from his predecessor’s incompetence. The party’s new slogan, ‘A New Leadership’, shows this in action, with an attempt at subtly echoing a return to New Labour. Clearly, from looking at Starmer’s polling ratings it’s hard to fault this strategy as he remains the most popular leader of any political party in the UK, even six months on from his election to the leadership.
However, this strategy is somewhat uninspiring and quite boring in many regards. If your plan to win a general election can be summarised as promoting the idea that you have a prime ministerial jawline and business-like haircut, then I don’t think anyone other than unreconstructed Blairites will be racing to the polling booth come election day. Starmer has done enough work on showing that he is more competent than Corbyn at being the Leader of the Opposition, but he needs to work more on being the leader of the Labour Party to the public.
The job of an opposition is twofold. First, they need to scrutinise and hold the government of the day to account to ensure that proper governance and well-written legislation can make it onto the statute book. Secondly, they need to appear as an alternative government, which involves coming up with alternative policies and a different overarching ideology that contrasts itself to the government. So far Starmer has done the first but made little attempt at the second role of the opposition. The fact that six months on from Starmer’s leadership election win there are so many potential opinions of what his ideology is says it all. Some wonder if he is a Blairite, or a Brownite, or a Milibandite, or even a 2017 Corbynite.
The only policies that have been announced by Starmer since he became leader have been to recreate the Department for International Development and a two-week circuit break lockdown. However, when it comes to tuition fees, views of capitalism, social care, Brexit and welfare, the leadership has nothing to say. This lack of leadership on the issues is worrying, as it is already generating a perception of Starmer being somewhat cardboard, given he seems to want to stand for nothing other than having a solid jawline and smooth haircut.
When Tony Blair became Labour leader in 1994, he moved quickly to replace Clause 4 of the Party Constitution, committed it to public ownership. By taking on the hard left and ushering in the ‘Third Way’, he showed himself to be a leader and a man of principle. When David Cameron became Conservative leader in 2005, he began his modernisation agenda with hugging kids in hoodies and moving the party away from unreconstructed Thatcherism. If Starmer wants to become Prime Minister, he needs to think about either a policy blitz or a speech on what specific ideological direction he wants to take the Labour Party. If he does not act fast then the public will just write him off as another politician who is more style than substance.
