Where has Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet gone?

Since the general election, many members of the cabinet besides the prime minister have been prevalent in the media. Rishi Sunak has become an out and out superstar, even occasionally lauded by portions of the centre-left media. Matt Hancock, for good or ill, has become a constant presence throughout the crisis. Yet it’s amazing how little impact the shadow cabinet, other than Starmer, has managed to make during the same period. This could be part of a deliberate strategy by Labour – aimed at establishing Starmer’s ‘new leadership’ and worrying about the rest later – but sooner or later, his lieutenants are going to have to start shining. Otherwise, they will all be defined by the Tories in the worst possible terms when the time is right.

In picking his shadow frontbench back in April, Starmer seemed to focus on two factors. One was competence. The person getting the job had to know their brief. This was welcome after the Corbyn era, where jobs appeared to be given out solely on the basis of commitment to the Project. The second was that the person had to not be seen as belonging to the right of the party. Starmer didn’t want to scare the horses too soon and was looking for MPs to fill those roles who wouldn’t been seen as antagonistic to the left. The problem with this strategy is that he has been left with people who, while bright and policy savvy, came into their jobs with little profile and almost no media experience. This has resulted in high ranking members of the shadow cabinet being wheeled out briefly, only to make no impact and then being shoved back into the shadows once more. Starmer then resumes his role of taking up all spotlight that happens to shine on Labour.

The current shadow cabinet makes elements of Corbyn’s frontbench look good at times, which is not something you want if you care about Labour having any chance of winning the next general election. John McDonnell knew how to handle an interview, always looked confident and was sure of the message he was trying to get across. Emily Thornberry often said the wrong thing, but she was almost always memorable when she appeared in the media. Meanwhile, can you remember any interview Anneliese Dodds or Nick Thomas-Symonds have given since they ascended to the shadow cabinet? The contrapositive to this is that neither have given an interview that was memorably terrible. Neither the shadow chancellor nor the shadow home secretary have actively hurt Starmer’s goal of making Labour seem more competent. At least, not yet. But there is only so far avoiding car crashes can get you when you have 201 seats and you are aiming to get at least 326 after the next general election. At some point relatively soon, the shadow cabinet needs to start making a notable, positive contribution to Starmer’s own project.

Coming back to the shadow home secretary – 2020 has offered many opportunities for this position to shine. Priti Patel has made some memorable gaffes, such as the ‘counter-terrorism offenders’ moment. She has also pushed an anti-immigration agenda that makes Theresa May look like a soft touch in the same department. Yet has Labour used Thomas-Symonds to counter any of this stuff effectively? Again, a trait of Starmer’s still nascent leadership of the Labour party has been a constant reluctance to use his frontbench in any meaningful way.

What makes this all the more relevant is that polls show that while people have started to see Stamer as a preferable prime minister to Boris Johnson, that hasn’t translated into a poll lead for Labour. A lot of voters still question Labour’s readiness for government. The opposition needs more than just its leader shining brightly; it requires a shadow cabinet that enough people believe can collectively run the country. Unless Labour get on top of this problem, the party will allow themselves to be defined by their opponents as a one-trick pony. Yes, that Starmer is a lovely fellow, we have to admit that much. Too bad he’s in a party full of nobodies, ideologues and incompetents, isn’t it?

Perhaps the current shadow frontbench is a transitional one. Maybe Starmer plans to swap certain members out for more recognisable and media-friendly individuals and is just waiting for the right moment. If so, I think Starmer and his team need to realise that they don’t have as much time as they think to get this stuff right. As the leader of the opposition himself admits, he’s got a ‘mountain to climb’ in terms of trying to win the next general election. There’s only so far the leader of the opposition can climb that mountain by himself.