Comment section of The Times today ....
Starmer needs to colour in his blank canvas
The new Labour leader has many political strengths but must overcome his caution and dullness to win public trust
Sir Keir Starmer’s acceptance speech, put out as a video on Saturday, was recorded against the backdrop of plain white shutters. No books or paintings that might have revealed something about his personality or his politics were visible. It was an appropriate end to a leadership campaign in which he remained studiously neutral: between left and right, evolution and revolution, Hampstead and Hull. Now, though, the new Labour leader has to fill in the colours and having won such a decisive victory over Rebecca Long-Bailey, the candidate of the left, he has a clear mandate to paint a picture designed to appeal to voters rather than just party members. One shadow cabinet minister says: “He has to have a visual and symbolic break with the Corbyn years.”
The country urgently needs a credible opposition. When the government is giving itself unprecedented powers to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and the economy teeters on the brink, it is more important than ever for ministers to be properly held to account. Sir Keir has the advantage that it is at least possible to imagine him standing on the steps of No 10. As a former director of public prosecutions, he already looks like a serious contender for power in a way that neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Ed Miliband ever did.
He may not have Boris Johnson’s swashbuckling charisma or rhetorical talent but he has a reputation for competence and a quiet political skill. When he was shadow Brexit secretary he showed a grasp of detail and an ability to build coalitions across party lines. Having practised at the Bar, he is used to forensically analysing a case and prosecuting an argument. Like a QC assembling his team of barristers before a trial, he seems to be choosing his shadow cabinet on the basis of intelligence and competence rather than ideology. A Labour Party represented by Rachel Reeves, Anneliese Dodds, David Lammy and Lisa Nandy already looks very different to — and more pragmatic than — one fronted by John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Barry Gardiner and Diane Abbott. And by bringing back Mr Miliband, Sir Keir seems to be glossing over the Corbyn era.
Some Tory MPs are urging the prime minister to invite the Labour leader to join a government of national unity to oversee the coronavirus crisis. It would be a mistake for Sir Keir to accept such an offer. His most urgent task is to establish an independent identity in the minds of the voters. As Iain Duncan Smith said when he was elected Tory leader in 2001, political reputations are made, or broken, in the first 100 days. The pandemic may make it harder for the opposition to cut through to the electorate but it also gives Sir Keir the chance to demonstrate that he is reasonable and rational. If he gets the tone right, he can prove himself willing to work in the national interest, supporting the government where appropriate while also highlighting specific mistakes that have been made.
The Labour leader should not be afraid to differentiate himself from Mr Johnson but he also needs to distance himself from Mr Corbyn. His party has suffered four successive election defeats and it will be heading for another if it carries on down the same disastrous political path. Having won control of the ruling national executive committee along with the leadership, Sir Keir should be able to oust Jennie Formby, the general secretary appointed by Mr Corbyn. He must also assert his independence from Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, who has done so much to drive Labour into a left-wing cul-de-sac. As one moderate MP puts it: “Unity isn’t the exam question. It’s about direction.”
Sir Keir’s immediate apology to the Jewish community for Labour’s antisemitism and his promise to “take personal responsibility for tearing this poisonous growth out by its roots” was a welcome indication that he is ready to turn the page on the Corbyn era.
His choice of top team is another positive sign. The voters will no longer need to wonder whether the leader of the opposition is more likely to side with Britain’s enemies than with the country’s allies. Ms Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, was excoriating about Mr Corbyn’s attitude to Russia when I interviewed her recently. “In foreign policy I think we got it really badly wrong,” she told me. “Our job has always been to stand with working people across the world, not with the dictators that oppress them.”
Ms Dodds, the shadow chancellor, is unlikely describe her hobby as fomenting the overthrow of capitalism, as her Marxist predecessor did. Interviewed by the Today programme yesterday, she chose Gordon Brown rather than John McDonnell as her role model, and insisted: “It’s necessary to make sure that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely”.
Prudence may enjoy a comeback under Sir Keir. “He has advantages which neither Ed Miliband nor Jeremy Corbyn had in that he is seen as being credible and competent,” says one Labour source. “His weaknesses are that he is also seen as incredibly cautious, uncharismatic and quite boring. He mustn’t sacrifice competence and credibility to be interesting, but he needs to build on those strengths to advocate change.”
There is also likely to be less class war of the sort favoured by the public schoolboy Stalinists around Mr Corbyn.
Claire Ainsley, tipped as Sir Keir’s head of policy, argues in her book The New Working Class that traditional social identities are breaking down and the skilled jobs in heavy industry have given way to low-paid ones in call centres and shops, or as cleaners and carers. According to her analysis, almost half of the electorate is now part of this new working class, and these voters are much more diverse than traditional blue-collar workers. As the country emerges from the coronavirus emergency, winning them over, rather than trying to recreate Labour’s old electoral coalition, could be the key to its recovery.
The pandemic gives Sir Keir the excuse to abandon the commitment he made during the leadership contest to stick to much of his party’s last manifesto and instead shape a forward-thinking Labour agenda. “Coronavirus gives him a get-out on the policy stuff,” says a shadow cabinet minister. “This is going to fundamentally change the nature of our society so the policy challenges have been transformed.” Everything is up in the air. All the old political certainties have been obliterated. The Conservative Party is nationalising the railways, subsidising wages, wrapping itself in the NHS and spending taxpayers’ money as if there is no tomorrow. For Labour and its new leader that is a risk but it is also an opportunity.
