Keir Starmer

The UK’s culture war is dying – but the next prime minister will have to stand up to plenty of populists overseas

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Elections in Europe and the US in 2024 seem set to be dominated by divisive, self-styled anti-establishment candidates.

Key Points: 
  • Elections in Europe and the US in 2024 seem set to be dominated by divisive, self-styled anti-establishment candidates.
  • And that has worrying implications not only for the UK, but also for the west’s shared interests in an increasingly unstable world.
  • But as his electoral fortunes continued to wane, Sunak has reverted to a sort of Johnson-lite culture war approach to politics, unconvincing but just as divisive.
  • Poll after poll shows the Conservatives terminally lagging the opposition – with some indicating near wipeout for the governing party.

Greeting the neighbours

  • Were he to win the keys to Downing Street, this would be a major strategic challenge for Starmer’s new government.
  • But so much for the hope London could normalise its relations with Brussels for the first time in a decade when one looks at the buildup to the European parliamentary elections.
  • In the nations of Europe there are nine parliamentary elections this year and populists are gaining ground across the continent.
  • Even those not holding elections in 2024, such as France and Germany, are enduring internal challenge.


Stephen Barber does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

New Book by Michael Ashcroft 'Red Queen? The Unauthorised Biography of Angela Rayner'

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 22, 2024

LONDON, Jan. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Angela Rayner is one of the most arresting figures in British politics today. A self-declared socialist, she pursued an unorthodox route into politics, leaving school aged 16 while pregnant having gained no formal qualifications. After becoming a care worker, she was a trade union representative before entering the House of Commons in 2015 as the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne. She served as the Shadow Secretary of State for Education for four years from 2016 and was elected deputy leader of the Labour Party in April 2020.

Key Points: 
  • A self-declared socialist, she pursued an unorthodox route into politics, leaving school aged 16 while pregnant having gained no formal qualifications.
  • After becoming a care worker, she was a trade union representative before entering the House of Commons in 2015 as the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne.
  • Michael Ashcroft's new book follows the journey of a politician who has quickly become an outspoken and charismatic presence in British public life.
  • Lord Ashcroft is an award-winning author who has written twenty-seven other books, largely on politics and bravery.

Offering oil and gas licences every year distracts from the challenge of winding down UK North Sea

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, November 9, 2023

It may cause significant damage, not least because it distracts from critical questions surrounding how the UK will transition to low carbon energy.

Key Points: 
  • It may cause significant damage, not least because it distracts from critical questions surrounding how the UK will transition to low carbon energy.
  • Licences, under the 1998 Petroleum Act, are how the UK government grants companies exclusive rights “to search and bore for, and get, petroleum”.
  • The government claims annual licensing rounds will encourage oil and gas production in UK waters.

Wrong answer, wrong question

  • The licensing system in place has arguably done the job of allocating access to the UK’s oil and gas.
  • What’s questionable is whether, considering the climate emergency, annual licensing rounds will revive interest in what has long been a declining basin.
  • There is growing recognition among financial analysts of the risks of stranded assets in oil and gas.
  • The recent decision to approve Rosebank (an oil field first licensed in 2001) is a case in point.
  • These scope 3 emissions account for 65%-85% of the total emissions and are often omitted from statements about the lower carbon content of UK gas.
  • Instead of comparing the carbon footprint of UK gas with imported LNG, pipeline gas from Norway would be a more appropriate (and lower-carbon) comparison.
  • Fossil fuel licensing is a potent political symbol, and not only for campaigners who have worked for years to get licensing onto the agenda.
  • It leaves untouched the pressing issue of how to phase down oil and gas production from existing licences in a just and equitable way.


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Gavin Bridge receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council. Gisa Weszkalnys receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council.

Israel, Palestine and the Labour party history that has made Keir Starmer's position so difficult

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 8, 2023

I can’t think of any colony or mandate that was as demanding intellectually and emotionally as Palestine.

Key Points: 
  • I can’t think of any colony or mandate that was as demanding intellectually and emotionally as Palestine.
  • I said: “I found the British still very emotional about Palestine.
  • Why?” And he said: “It’s associated, don’t you think with partisanship with one side or the other.
  • I can’t think of any colony or mandate that was as demanding intellectually and emotionally as Palestine.
  • Mayhew, a staunch anti-communist, found himself out of sync with the zeitgeist and abandoned Labour for the Liberal Party.

Internal rivalries

  • There has thus been a powerful tendency for the antagonisms of the Arab-Israeli conflict to map onto Labour’s own internal rivalries and the factional battle for control over the party.
  • Between 1945 and 1967, this usually manifested itself as a clash between a pro-Zionist left and an anti-Zionist right.

Starmer’s predicament

  • Keir Starmer’s political positioning on the 2023 Gaza conflict is shaped by his experience of the more recent chapters of that history.
  • He has sought to rebuild trust with the British Jewish community and distance the party from what many see as the toxic image it acquired under Corbyn.
  • These are all pressures and dangers that can be expected to grow as the Gaza conflict intensifies and its human costs mount.


James Vaughan is affiliated with the Jewish Labour Movement

The UK's top financial influencers skew Conservative – which helps explain why Keir Starmer's Labour is so anxious about uncosted spending pledges

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 1, 2023

At a recent national policy forum, the leadership clashed with the party’s left, which argued against “fiscal conservativism”.

Key Points: 
  • At a recent national policy forum, the leadership clashed with the party’s left, which argued against “fiscal conservativism”.
  • At the forum, a majority of the participants were on his side in rejecting proposals for “unfunded” spending commitments made by the Unite union.
  • Unite’s position on spending was not shared by other trade unions, notably the GMB, which supported Starmer’s economic strategy.
  • If potential Labour supporters are not enthused by an alternative vision for the future, they may not vote at all.

Who are Britain’s financial players?

    • This includes more than 350 different occupations from “legislators and senior officials” to “doorkeepers and watchpersons”.
    • We can look at the voting records of individuals working as financial decision-makers in Britain.
    • So if we bundle these together there are close to 21,000 respondents and 254 of them are financial decision-makers.

How do financial players vote and why does it matter?

    • The chart below shows the voting behaviour of the 254 financial decision-makers over the whole period (in blue), compared with the rest of the population (in red).
    • It turns out that 41% of them voted Conservative compared with 32% of the rest of the population.
    • Labour have a right to be nervous because only 32% of them voted Labour compared with 41% of the rest of the population.
    • Voting behaviour of financial decision-makers and others in Britain 2002 to 2020 To be fair, these people are unlikely to make financial decisions based on their party preferences.

Racism and the Labour party: investigation after investigation feeds an endless factional loop

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Labour leaders have almost always presided over party divisions, many of which have spilled over into crisis.

Key Points: 
  • Labour leaders have almost always presided over party divisions, many of which have spilled over into crisis.
  • Corbyn’s supporters, on the other hand, adhered to his view that the scale of the problem was being exaggerated for factional reasons.
  • Now Starmer is the one being accused of dithering over implementing the recommendations of an investigation that found “serious problems of discrimination” in the party.

Inquiries in the Labour party

    • Labour has, at this point, been subject to five investigations and inquiries concerning antisemitism and discrimination.
    • In 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) launched an investigation into the party following numerous complaints of antisemitism.
    • Then, some Labour party staff compiled their own dossier documenting the work of the GLU in relation to antisemitism.

Why are inquiries used by political elites?

    • However, they also occur during high-stakes moments and deal with matters which pose a serious threat to the political futures of those involved.
    • In these moments of political survival, what political scientist Jim Bulpitt called “crude, subsistence-level objectives” take precedence over substantive attempts to address the issue at hand.
    • In Bulpitt’s famous “statecraft interpretation”, self-interested political leaders must cultivate an image of competence to maintain power and at the same time manage competing factions in the party to fend off political rivals.
    • In Labour’s case, this process comes with the added challenge of needing to manage the conflicting political traditions within its ranks.

Corbyn, Starmer and the management of inquiries

    • The inquiry, led by a Corbyn ally, stressed that Labour was “not overrun by antisemitism, Islamophobia or other forms of racism”.
    • It did mention the “occasionally toxic atmosphere” within the party and recommended changes to procedures which predate Corbyn’s leadership.
    • The inquiries were therefore used to preserve Corbyn’s authority, successfully manage internal party conflict, and present an image of competence regarding the handling of a sensitive issue.
    • Starmer has styled himself as a decisive leader and distanced himself from Corbyn, who is seen as culpable for the antisemitism crisis by large swathes of the public.

The Forde report

    • The report from the inquiry led by barrister Martin Forde has been less comfortable terrain for Starmer.
    • Owing to the fact that the leaked report contained evidence of racist abuse targeted at black MPs by staff in the GLU, nine black Labour MPs criticised the delays for further “doubling down on the impression that the party does not take anti-black racism seriously”.
    • Starmer again framed these findings as relating to a time before he came to office, arguing that the “focus of the report was 2014–19 and deflecting questions onto Corbyn.
    • Martin Forde has since voiced concerns that Starmer and his staff have effectively ignored the report’s recommendations.

Labour Party Leader Sir Keir Starmer says, "India shining as the biggest democracy"

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 27, 2023

"I have a clear message for you all today - This is a changed Labour Party.

Key Points: 
  • "I have a clear message for you all today - This is a changed Labour Party.
  • Across the board we've embraced the power of enterprise; understand that this is the only way to pay your way in the modern world.
  • But my Labour Party understands that what working people want in every community is success, aspiration and security."
  • Reflecting on India's current standing in the world, Starmer said this was an opportunity for it to be India's century.

Labour take note: red-wall voters want an ambitious plan for renewal – not tough talk and flag waving

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, May 10, 2023

A Tory-to-Labour swing of 4.5% in 2023’s local elections fell marginally short of the 5% switch-around he needs to enter single-party government at Westminster.

Key Points: 
  • A Tory-to-Labour swing of 4.5% in 2023’s local elections fell marginally short of the 5% switch-around he needs to enter single-party government at Westminster.
  • Labour made gains in this year’s red wall salvage operation, which included the successful recapture of councils in Stoke-on-Trent and Blackpool.
  • And why is it still struggling to fully exploit the mix of ennui and anger felt by so many voters who turned Tory in 2019?

Buses, doctors, jobs

    • Doing so gave me a clear sense of the concerns preoccupying red-wall and left-behind voters.
    • Most apparent was the need for a vision of a more socially just, interventionist approach to regulating the economy and reviving public services.
    • This is the most likely way to motivate a resurgence in Labour support.
    • A carless foodbank volunteer, from nearby Gorleston, said she had been forced to turn down several paid jobs in town because she had no way of reaching work in time for the start of her shifts.

Asking the wrong questions

    • As ever, perceptions of which issues are most salient to voters depend on what exactly you ask them and how you frame your questions.
    • The “deep-dive” focus groups that pollster Deborah Mattinson conducted in ex-Labour strongholds for her 2020 book, Beyond the Red Wall, were almost exclusively concerned with asking why so many people had abandoned the party in 2019.
    • In the three years since, Mattinson, now Starmer’s director of strategy, seems to have continued asking herself (and subsequent focus-groups) much the same questions.

Lord Ashcroft announces the publication date of 19 August 2021 for his latest book, Red Knight: The Unauthorised Biography of Sir Keir Starmer

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 27, 2021

LONDON, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Read the two-part serialisation of Red Knight in the Mail on Sunday here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Key Points: 
  • At Westminster, he was swiftly elevated to the shadow Cabinet, and in April 2020 he became the leader of the Labour Party.
  • Starmer was the architect of Labour's second-referendum Brexit policy, which was considered a major factor in its worst electoral defeat for nearly a century.
  • Is he the voice of competence and moderation who can put his party back on the political map?
  • His books include Victoria Cross Heroes: Volumes I and II; Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography of David Cameron; White Flag?

Prime Minister's Questions: 1 July 2020

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, July 2, 2020

Questions from the Leader of the OppositionMr Starmer asked the Prime Minister:Why the Government was "so slow to act" on imposing restrictions on Leicester. Mr Starmer said that the Government had known for 11 days that there were increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in the area.Why local authorities did not get pillar 2 test results, which are tests in the local community. They only had pillar 1 data, which consists of results for NHS staff, care workers and tests in hospitals. They were not given the pillar 2 information for a week. Mr Starmer asked for assurances that no local authority would be "put in that position" again.If he regretted telling the MP for Hove to "show some guts" when the latter raised concerns about an influx of visitors coming to coastal towns. Days later, Bournemouth beach was closed and a major incident declared after 500,000 people arrived.Why three quarters of people with Covid-19 are not being reached by the track and trace system.How many jobs he thinks yesterday's announcement will protect, referring to the Prime Minister's economic recovery plans announced yesterday in which he said many of the jobs furloughed will not return. If the Prime Minister will extend the furlough scheme for sectors such as hospitality and tourism, which are "still at risk". Mr Starmer said that the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday amounted to only £100 per person. The Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, focused his questions on the Leicester lockdown, the track and trace system, and the furlough scheme.Questions from the Scottish National Party's Westminster LeaderMr Blackford asked the Prime Minister:What the Barnett consequentials were for the Prime Minister's economic recovery strategy that was announced yesterday. Mr Blackford said there was "not a single penny" for Scotland and that the Prime Minister's spokesperson "laughed" when asked about funding.If he will continue to freeze benefit sanctions. Sanctions had been frozen for three months but it was announced yesterday that they would begin again. Mr Blackford called this "heartless". The SNP's Westminster Leader, Ian Blackford, asked about the Prime Minister's economic recovery plans and benefit sanctions.Full list of topics and questioners Follow us!

Key Points: 

Questions from the Leader of the Opposition

  • Mr Starmer asked the Prime Minister:
    • Why the Government was "so slow to act" on imposing restrictions on Leicester. Mr Starmer said that the Government had known for 11 days that there were increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in the area.
    • Why local authorities did not get pillar 2 test results, which are tests in the local community. They only had pillar 1 data, which consists of results for NHS staff, care workers and tests in hospitals. They were not given the pillar 2 information for a week. Mr Starmer asked for assurances that no local authority would be "put in that position" again.
    • If he regretted telling the MP for Hove to "show some guts" when the latter raised concerns about an influx of visitors coming to coastal towns. Days later, Bournemouth beach was closed and a major incident declared after 500,000 people arrived.
    • Why three quarters of people with Covid-19 are not being reached by the track and trace system.
    • How many jobs he thinks yesterday's announcement will protect, referring to the Prime Minister's economic recovery plans announced yesterday in which he said many of the jobs furloughed will not return.
    • If the Prime Minister will extend the furlough scheme for sectors such as hospitality and tourism, which are "still at risk". Mr Starmer said that the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday amounted to only £100 per person.


    The Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, focused his questions on the Leicester lockdown, the track and trace system, and the furlough scheme.

Questions from the Scottish National Party's Westminster Leader

  • Mr Blackford asked the Prime Minister:
    • What the Barnett consequentials were for the Prime Minister's economic recovery strategy that was announced yesterday. Mr Blackford said there was "not a single penny" for Scotland and that the Prime Minister's spokesperson "laughed" when asked about funding.
    • If he will continue to freeze benefit sanctions. Sanctions had been frozen for three months but it was announced yesterday that they would begin again. Mr Blackford called this "heartless".


    The SNP's Westminster Leader, Ian Blackford, asked about the Prime Minister's economic recovery plans and benefit sanctions.

Full list of topics and questioners

    Follow us!