When George Canning died of pneumonia in August 1827, the last words he spoke were “Spain and Portugal” (he had done everything possible to weaken the empires of both countries after the Napoleonic Wars, and guarantee the independence of their colonies). Keir Starmer’s obituary is probably still a long way off – decades away – but if it were today, the last words many would attribute to him would be “free glasses, suits and tickets to Taylor Swift and Arsenal”.
In all likelihood Starmer will remain in power for at least the five years of his term (he enjoys a large absolute majority), and perhaps longer if no disaster strikes (the tories They are going through an identity crisis and have been greatly weakened, even as an opposition). Next week he will complete one hundred days in Downing Street, almost as many as the 119 that the aforementioned Canning lasted, and double the 49 of Liz Truss. What works in his favor is time, because the beginning of his administration could not have been more disastrous, among the worst in memory.
The underlying problem is that Starmer has not been able to convey what the purpose and mission of his Government is.
Starmer is the equivalent in British politics of the player who starts with poker and somehow manages to lose his hand (and a lot of money), or the football team (like Athletic on Sunday in Girona) that misses three penalties in the same game. He had everything in his favor for a triumphant entry, a public opinion fed up with the conservatives and eager for change, plenty of notice to have prepared, more than 400 deputies to only 112 of his main rival… But he did not take long to squander everything that capital with astonishing speed and ease, and surprising amateurism, chaining one mistake after another. Three months have been enough for voters, according to a survey, to consider Labor more corrupt than the tories and say they would prefer Sunak as prime minister.
The Labor leader has been slow to react but has finally done so, dismissing Sue Gray, his chief of staff, a career civil servant who investigated Boris Johnson’s illegal parties during the pandemic, and to whom he handed over the reins of his Administration, giving him more power than anyone else and even paying him a salary higher than his own.
In his obsession with controlling everything, including access to Starmer and the flow of information, Gray made many enemies, starting with all those advisors whose offices he moved as far as possible from Starmer’s, and whose salaries he reduced under the pretext of austerity. while his increased. It couldn’t end well.
When a football team is going badly (and the British government was going badly), the president has the option of dismissing the coach or the entire squad, and inevitably opts for the former. The same thing has happened in Downing Street, and Starmer has dispensed with Sue Gray.
Starmer has attributed the responsibility to the now former chief of staff for not having seen the scandal of the gifts worth 120,000 euros that the premier, his wife and several ministers have accepted, the unpopularity of eliminating aid to retirees for pay for energy while the salaries of train drivers and doctors rose well above inflation, and the lack of general direction (the Government has realized that some of the tax increases that it had announced with great fanfare saucer would generate hardly any income and would scare away investors). Not even the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has gone down well, with the right putting their hands on their heads for what they consider “infantile anti-colonialism”, a “strategic gift to China” and a “dangerous precedent for Gibraltar and the Falklands “). Someone had to foot the bill.
His replacement as Chief of Staff is Morgan McSwinney, until now Starmer’s main political advisor and architect of the victorious electoral campaign, who headed the rival power pole at number 10. Within the restructuring, there will be a Head of Communications who will be James Lyons, a journalist who has worked in the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Times . Its mission is for the press to convey a kinder message about Labour’s management, and to manage the news in such a way that there is always some good news and the bad ones are buried as much as possible (which Jonathan Campbell did for ten years to Blair).
Canning died at the helm obsessed with Spain and Portugal, and Liz Truss was liquidated by the markets. Starmer has time on his side, and voters’ patience against him. Killing Gray may give him a boost, but the main person responsible for the crisis is himself, a technocrat who until now has not been able to articulate a message and a philosophy. What is Labor in power for?
