Steven Fielding

Is ‘Starmerism’ an empty project?

(Photo: Getty)

Keir Starmer is an extremely methodical politician. Like the mills of God, he might grind slow, but he grinds exceedingly small. Once the Labour leader sets his mind to an objective – such as ridding his party of the taint of anti-Semitism – he is implacable. Just ask the Corbynite wing of the party, who have seen Corbyn suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and Rebecca Long-Bailey exiled to the backbenches.

In the same way Starmer has unremittingly set out to win back those Red Wall voters Labour lost to Boris Johnson in the 2019 general election. We have consequently heard much of his belief in the family and of his patriotism: he is now rarely seen without a Union Jack somewhere close by. Starmer also set out to expose the government’s many mistakes during the Covid crisis, thereby demonstrating his firm grasp of the big issues and qualifications to be Prime Minister.

All of this has had a positive impact on Labour’s position with the public: from 20 points behind in December 2019 the party has drawn level with the Conservatives. But the Labour leader’s approach has also caused frustration within his own ranks, with some who supported him as leader expressing concern that he was being unduly defensive and pandering to cultural conservatism. ‘Starmerism’, one such alienated figure recently claimed, looked very much like an empty political project.

But the Labour leader always knew that imposing his will on the party, waving the flag and demonstrating competence would never be enough. As Starmer said last autumn he would soon outline Labour’s ‘positive vision for the country’.

With millions of Britons now being vaccinated the country is looking forward to life after Covid – but also to an uncertain future given how fighting the virus has laid waste to the economy.

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Written by
Steven Fielding
Steven Fielding is Emeritus Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham. He is currently writing a history of the Labour party since 1976 for Polity Press.

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