Keir Starmer: Sense and Sensibility

Keir Starmer’s official portrait, taken by Chris McAndrew.

Months of speculation and raucous debate culminated in a rather mundane and bureaucratic result for Britain’s Labour Party. With the party’s gala announcement event canceled due to coronavirus concerns, it presented its new leader to the world via an emailed press release. 

The Labour Party, a center-left, trade-unionist outfit that currently forms Britain’s main opposition, has found itself in the political wilderness for years. It has yet to recover from the thrashing it received at the hands of former Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party in the 2010 election, and was unable to capitalize even on former Prime Minister Theresa May’s immense unpopularity at polls in 2017. The latest election, a sweeping Conservative win in December 2019, cemented Labour’s downfall. Now, Labour’s members have chosen Sir Keir Starmer, a senior lawyer and political moderate, as their new leader. This decision may well revitalize Labour’s sagging fortunes.

Many of the Labour Party’s recent electoral struggles have been attributed to Sir Keir’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn. A longtime left-wing activist, Mr. Corbyn packed his front bench with ideologues, swinging Labour’s platform wildly to the left between the 2017 and 2019 elections. The party’s vote share plunged in response, with its traditionally working-class base firmly trading their vote  to the Conservative Party. Labour was barraged by allegations of antisemitism and criticized for Mr. Corbyn’s seeming penchant for militants and leftist dictators. His leadership prompted an exodus of moderates from his shadow cabinet and the party alike. 

Sir Keir is an altogether different sort of leader from Mr. Corbyn. He is a self-described socialist and, along with his rivals for the job, pledged to scrap university tuition fees and nationalize utilities and rail. The latter two ideas entered the mainstream British left long ago—mostly due to Mr. Corbyn’s efforts. Sir Keir’s campaign was also backed by Unison, Britain’s largest trade union. He was, however, clear about his departure from Mr. Corbyn’s leadership style. For example, Mr. Corbyn failed to take a position on Brexit, the most critical issue in Britain’s living memory. This opened rifts in his own party and confounded the electorate, who responded by eviscerating Labour in Leave-voting seats at last year’s election. Sir Keir, on the other hand, was an outspoken critic of Brexit, but he has declared that it is time for the country and his party to move on. An unambiguous Europhile with a vast knowledge of the intricacies of the withdrawal process, he is far more likely to form a cogent party line on Europe than Mr. Corbyn or one of his acolytes. Sir Keir has also begun to shake Labour free of some of its more toxic associations: in one of his first acts as leader, he met with representatives of Britain’s Jewish community and apologized for the alleged antisemitism in his party. He is also a staunch critic of Russian aggression, whereas Mr. Corbyn chose to defend President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Sir Keir is a pragmatist who has emphasized unity and avoided dogmatic factions within the party. The majority of the Labour Party wanted this sort of change: its members rewarded Sir Keir with an emphatic victory.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sir Keir has vowed to work with the current British government on addressing the crisis, but he has also raised specific questions on testing failures. This territory is familiar ground to him—as Labour’s point man on Brexit, his grilling of government ministers on policy issues was forensic and level-headed, despite his party’s listlessness on the topic. Sir Keir’s tenacity and desire for a better way of governing will evidently continue, encapsulating the job of any respectable opposition leader. 

Sir Keir’s true test begins now. Mounting concerns about environmental and social issues have shifted British society leftward in recent years. The Conservative Party itself has blurred the distinctions between left and right, shown in the party’s intensely dirigiste response to the COVID-19 crisis, doubtlessly leaving its mark on future economic policy. This new push to the left by the Conservative Party threatens to undermine Labour’s position: the party must present itself as a better alternative to a government that seems to have adopted many of Labour’s own principles. Josh Newlove of Policy Network, a London-based think-tank, told me that Sir Keir’s challenge is to build a party that will be able to navigate a new British political scene, one which is “no longer traditionally left-right.” Mr. Newlove also pointed out that Sir Keir largely avoided taking a clear position on some of the more divisive issues of the campaign, demurring on a controversial transgender-rights pledge and on a longstanding conflict about the power of local party chapters—both topics that have infuriated various Labour factions. As a candidate, he could afford to look past these problems. As leader, he will need to confront these grumblings and unite the party behind him. His reputation as a pragmatist and his decisive mandate among Labour’s membership suggests that he will succeed. 

The Conservative Party has held power for ten years. During that time, the party has made staggering errors, with horrific consequences. Despite these catastrophes, Labour is still out of power by a huge margin. Voters are not interested in a party that dithers on Brexit, drives up taxes, and dabbles in apologia on behalf of despots and extremists. Britain deserves a serious opposition party, one that can scrutinize the government, provide credible alternatives, and, above all, stand for a vision of the world that does not repulse and alienate the people it claims to represent. This sense of vision has been desperately absent in recent years. Sir Keir marks its return, offering a more sensible vision for Britain, one that looks forward rather than back. Whether Sir Keir will find himself crossing the threshold of Downing Street in the near future is altogether a different question. What already seems apparent, however, is that the Labour Party has transformed, free of shackling dogma and ready to offer a real alternative to the Conservative Party. The gauntlet has been thrown down, and Britain will be the better for it.