He’s back and this time he’s got a pledge card. Sir Keir is out this morning in Essex, outlining the bold, dynamic first steps he would take if he wins the next election. Among his exciting new pledges includes a forensic policy to ‘deliver economic stability’ and, er, ‘cut NHS waiting times.’ Truly, riveting stuff. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time that Captain Charisma has relaunched his leadership since his election in April 2020 – as a cursory look below will show….
- September 2020 – Sir Keir uses a ‘new leadership’ slogan to try and relaunch his party – replacing the ‘under new management’ phrase he had been using since July.
- January 2021 – Another speech and another new slogan as Starmer debuts ‘Secure, Protect, Rebuild’ in the middle of lockdown.
- February 2021 – In a move to ‘assuage growing criticism of his leadership’ (ouch), Keir launches his ‘New Chapter for Britain’ with a ‘major policy blitz’ to ‘assuage growing criticism of his leadership’. This amounts to, um, two new policies: one from the Tories and one from the Centre for Policy Studies on a new British Recovery Bond.
- June 2021 – With his leadership crisis, Starmer turns to an unorthodox source of help: Piers Morgan. The two conduct an hour-long interview in a bid to ‘relaunch’ his leadership. That same month, Labour changes slogan again, copying Hillary Clinton’s ‘Stronger Together.’ How did that work out eh?
- September 2021 – The Labour leader writes a 14,000 word ‘mission statement’ with no new policies in an attempt to ‘reset’ his leadership, again.
- December 2021 – After an (uninspiring) year-and-a-half of leadership, Starmer declares that he will finally be setting out his ‘ideas’. ‘Throughout the new year, I’ll be setting out in detail the ideas that I believe can build a New Britain. A Britain that works for everyone, in every part of the country, and not just for those at the top’.
- January 2022 – A year after ‘secure, protect, rebuild’ – Keir Starmer re-launches his leadership in the new year with the slogan, ‘security, prosperity, respect’.
- April 2022 –Three months on and (shock!) the slogan has switched to ‘On your side’.
- June 2022 – Labour confirm yet another ‘policy blitz’, following the last failed ‘blitz’ of 2021, in the run-up to the party’s autumn conference.
- January 2023 – Another new year but it’s still the same old story as Keir Starmer uses a speech to reset his leadership and pitch himself as the ‘candidate of optimism’. About as optimistic as Eeyore eh?
- February 2023 – A month after Sunak sets out his ‘five pledges’, Keir Starmer does the same. This reset promised ‘the highest growth in the G7, making the NHS fit for the future, making streets safer, breaking down barriers to opportunity, and making Britain a clean energy superpower’.
- March 2023 – Keir Starmer launches his local elections campaign with his dozenth slogan: ‘Build a better Britain’. The Times writes that ‘Now into his third year as Labour leader, Keir Starmer is on to his twelfth slogan.’
- May 2023 – Starmer proclaims his plan to reform the Labour party at the Progressive Britain Conference, insisting he will go ‘further and deeper than New Labour’s rewriting of clause IV’. At least in the ’90s they didn’t have to endure more launches than Cape Canaveral…
- October 2023 – Stop the presses! Starmer Chameleon changes his ‘five missions for Britain’ – ditching his commitment to the highest growth in the G7 to ‘get Britain building again’. The party’s first mission has become ‘get Britain building again’. Well, for now, at least.
- January 2024 – The Labour leader uses his new year speech to switch from growth to change. ‘At the general election, against the understandable despair of a downtrodden country, I will ask the British people to believe in it again,’ he declares.
- May 2024 – Keir Starmer launched Labour’s ‘first steps for change’ by ‘evolving’ Labour’s traditional pledge card and setting out the first steps towards Labour’s five missions.
Steerpike just wants to know when the next relaunch is going to be…
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