At the shadow cabinet meeting on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after Boris Johnson’s humiliating vote of confidence, Keir Starmer gave his troops what was called “a little cold reality” about how much work remains to be done to develop Labor policies and message in the coming months. .
Many could not agree more. Talks with shadow cabinet members, party aides and other high-ranking labor figures this week revealed deep concern about whether Starmer and his team are prepared to take advantage of the Conservatives’ weakness.
Backbenchers shuffled in their seats on Wednesday’s prime minister’s questions as Starmer tried to obstruct Johnson’s NHS waiting times, which many complained was a strangely flat performance given the importance of the moment.
Some also expressed concern over Starmer’s televised statement Monday night in response to a Conservative vote of confidence, in which he repeatedly said the public was “fed up.” “It looked like it had come from the pub,” one regular loyalist complained.
Far from presenting issues, leading party figures say policy development has been slow and Starmer does not appear to be closely monitoring his progress. Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband achieved a political victory with the unexpected tax policy, which the government initially attacked before finally co-opting (known by Rishi Sunak as a “temporary energy benefits tax”). But with a campaign summer ahead, there is still no other attractive policy waiting to replace it.
His colleagues say that Claire Ainsley, head of Labor policy, who is in charge of developing the manifesto, is detached from the political side of the operation. A senior aide said, “We have no idea where we can do politics against our opponents, areas that we may be exploiting to draw a clear dividing line between us and the Conservatives.”
A shadow minister in the cabinet who requested a meeting with Starmer to discuss a controversial part of his writing told his comrades that they had struggled to have a face-to-face time with the leader. Instead, they were asked to prepare an information document, telling other members of their shadow team that this was impossible to do without even knowing the basics of where the leader was.
“Basically, I don’t think Keir thinks it’s his job to come up with ideas,” he said. Another shadow minister said: “His way of working is that he likes to commission a document from his staff that comes to him and they say ‘here are some options on the x policy, what do you think?'”.
This means that while Starmer may be writing a book about his political philosophy, some of his closest colleagues are still struggling to understand what his leader stands for. “What’s your project?” asked a shadow minister.
Andrew Fisher, who was the head of Labor policy under Jeremy Corbyn, said: “There doesn’t seem to be much passion or detail around any of Keir Starmer’s political areas.” He noted that some of the party’s strongest policies had not materialized, including the £ 28bn-a-year investment in the zero-net transition announced by Reeves at last year’s conference.
“They haven’t really developed it, they haven’t really said where the £ 28 billion will go. If you just say £ 28 billion, all people hear is a lot of money. You’re isolating people’s homes with this. “If so, how many? What does this mean for a pensioner? You can humanize these things. It’s there like a skeleton: it’s this demaciated policy without any details that makes it come to life.”
Former business secretary Peter Mandelson, of the opposite wing of the party in Fisher, attacked politics this week in a speech, saying: “Just announcing massive spending and a big political goal does not generate economic growth in itself.” .
Starmer’s allies say people should not underestimate the challenges he has faced since becoming leader: fix broken party morale, fix the problem of anti-Semitism, and fight to get the message across. Labor during the pandemic.
“I don’t think he has enough credit to get out of Corbynism without being dragged into a narrative of betrayal,” a senior party figure said. “Members know what he is trying to do. He has taken them on a journey and now they are his members and they are his people. “
Supporters also point to improved Labor poll scores on a number of key metrics, including, crucially, economic competition, where the latest YouGov tracker placed the party just one percentage point behind the Conservatives. .
In last month’s local elections, Labor made steady progress in a number of areas of the “red wall” it hopes to recover.
Starmer’s aides argue that it would be a mistake to “turn it around and throw it all away now,” revealing a series of policies, when the election could be two years away, but they promise more announcements over the summer and point out that the autumn as a key moment.
Starmer’s team believes the economy will be the battleground for the next general election and hopes to make connections between the immediate crisis of the cost of living and what one attendee called “a bigger argument about growth, inflation and taxes: how the economy is managed and how we avoid crises in the future ”.
But these ideas have not yet been perfected in a simple message that can be nailed repeatedly at home during the period before 2024 (or, potentially, 2023).
With the Prime Minister severely politically injured, some in the party are also worried about whether Starmer would be a good opponent to face, for example, Jeremy Hunt, as he is against the chaotic and dishonest Johnson.
They raise the specter of 1992, when an unpopular Conservative government that had been in power for more than a decade won the general election after Margaret Thatcher.
“I think we’re at real risk of being in 1990: Johnson is leaving, he’s being replaced by Sajid Javid or Jeremy Hunt, someone who’s not in Johnson’s mold, someone that people see as semi-serious and a little boring. , and all of a sudden, Keir Starmer’s advantage of being semi-serious and a little boring goes off, “said a senior party figure.
Some are openly pondering who could better replace Starmer if Durham police fined him for what the Conservatives have nicknamed “Beergate” and he is forced to resign as promised, a result his team insists is very unlikely. Wes Streeting is widely seen as a likely contender, as are Reeves and Lisa Nandy.
Meanwhile, as one shadow minister put it, “I think we’re all a little puzzled, really. Everyone wants to help and wants success, but how do we do it?