A few months ago, over a plate of bone marrow, a Tory adviser was considering how best to kneecap Labour. With the government’s working majority at 168, opposition debates could only go so far. Viral attack videos were hard to come by and CCHQ was depleted. Then the adviser hit upon something: a league table of cabinet ministers ranked by the Labour membership.
It was an idea that arose from bitter experience. The Conservative-Home website has for years been running a grassroots ranking, showing which ministers were favoured by party members. It has proved such an accurate tracker about who was in pole position for any tilt at a leadership contest that ministers would obsess over it. Government decisions were made on how actions could shape the next month’s ratings. Who’s up? Who’s down? Was a speech required? Or a negative briefing on a colleague getting too big for their boots? For the Tories, the league table was a destabilising force in government.
Now the website LabourList is launching a membership ranking of Keir Starmer’s cabinet. The Tory adviser has had his wish fulfilled – and by a site that is supposed to be on Labour’s side. It’s already sowing seeds of discontent in the party. Of the 27 cabinet members, the golden boys and girls favoured by the party leadership – such as Rachel Reeves and Wes Streeting – find themselves in the bottom five among Labour members. Starmer is languishing in 17th place.
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