In the midst
of this global covid-19 pandemic it has perhaps slipped under the radar
somewhat that the Labour Party, Her Majesty’s official opposition, has finally
rid itself of ‘Magic Grandpa’ Jeremy Corbyn – the man responsible for the
Labour Party’s worst election performance since 1935 – and elected a new
leader: Sir Keir Starmer.
Whilst from
a partisan perspective we Conservatives might have enjoyed having Corbyn and
his Marxist cronies McDonnell and Abbott sitting on the front row of the
Opposition benches for the duration of this parliament and thus continually
ruining the Labour Party’s standing as a respectable and electable force; as
democrats we know that for the benefit of democracy and holding Her Majesty’s
Government to proper account – this change has been long overdue.
Labour’s new
leader comes with a glittering CV behind him.
Born in
Southwark, London, 57 year-old Starmer studied at Leeds University and then St
Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduated in 1986 as a Bachelor of Civil Law and became a barrister
in 1987. In November 2008 he became Head of the Crown Prosecution Service and
Director of Public Prosecutions, leaving in November 2013.
In December
2014 Sir Keir was selected to be the Labour Party representative for the safe
seat of Holborn and St Pancras for the 2015 election, going on to win with a
majority of more than 17,000.
After the
Conservative’s gaining a surprise outright majority at the same election,
leader Ed Milliband resigned as Labour leader. After Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in
the leadership contest, Starmer was appointed Shadow Minister of State for
Immigration. He resigned from this post in 2016 in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s
leadership of the party.
Oridinarily
that would have ensured a lengthy spell on the back benches, but following
Jeremy Corbyn’s re-election as Leader of the Labour Party and Britain’s
decision to vote to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum, Sir Keir
became the Shadow Brexit Secretary. He was to stay in this post until after the
2019 general election which saw Boris Johnson swept back to power with a
majority of 80 seats thus forcing Jeremy Corbyn to finally call it a day,
knowing the game was up.
Sir Keir has
a lot of internal party politics to firstly sort out. The Labour Party’s
reputation was heavily damaged through the Corbyn years, with multiple claims
of antisemitism throughout the party membership and through the extra grass
roots support of Momentum. This has left a bitter taste with the electorate
more broadly and will take a while for them to build trust up again.
Apart from
this, what does Sir Keir stand for?
He describes
himself as ‘soft left,’ however given that the grass roots of the Labour Party
has fundamentally changed since the days of Tony Blair, he has had to swing
further to the left to win the leadership election. Here is a snapshot of his
pledges:
- Increase
top rate of income tax by 5%.
- Reverse
the corporation tax cuts introduced by the Conservatives.
- Abolish
Universal Credit.
- Shift
towards preventative healthcare.
- Abolish
student tuition fees.
- Invest
in lifelong learning.
- Put
Green New Deal at heart of all policy.
- A
clean air act and demand international action on climate rights.
- Introduce
a Prevention of Military Intervention Act.
- Renationalise:
Rail, Mail, Energy and Water.
- Give
full voting rights to EU citizens and defend freedom of movement.
- Immigration
system based on compassion and dignity.
- Repeal
the Trade Union Act.
- Introduce
a federal system to devolve powers.
- Abolish
the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber of regions and
nations.
This
is quite a substantive list of pledges. It is indeed difficult to see where
they differs from those made by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.
Nevertheless,
Sir Keir is a very polished media performer and may be able to articulate his
positions in a more convincing manner than his predecessor was able to. It’s
also important to recall that opinion polls do point towards many elements of
the Labour Party’s 2017 election manifesto as popular with the wider public.
That election, of course, cost previous Prime Minister Theresa May her
majority.
However,
Sir Keir was also responsible for the Labour Party’s rather incoherent policy
on Brexit, as it tried to put a square peg in a round hole by pleasing its
Party membership (pro EU and pro 2nd referendum)
and its broader electorate (pro Brexit.)
In
the end, it’s policy was widely ridiculed. How can a government in waiting
promise to deliver on the referendum result by negotiating a withdrawal
agreement with the EU, then present that agreement to the public in a
referendum of Remain vs Agreement and not be prepared to stand by and support
its own agreement in the referendum?
It
shows to the wider public a government engaged in a process that they don’t
believe in and have perhaps deliberately sabotaged. It shows a lack of
leadership and contempt for voters.
This
is partly where Labour fell to pieces in the 2019 election and the
responsibility for it lies mostly with the architect of that policy – Sir Keir.
It’s
also easy to see that the list of pledges will be rather pricy for the tax
payer to fulfill. Given that the current government has had to seriously splash
cash around to support the wider economy during the covid-19 pandemic, it is
hard to foresee at this stage what the wider economic outlook will be in almost
5 years time when the next election is due. Money being available to finance
Sir Keir’s projects may not be in existence.
However,
his first performances at Prime Minister’s Questions have received ample praise
from those that would naturally be sympathetic supporters but who had turned
their back on Labour under Jeremy Corbyn. So it looks like the opposition is
back!
Still,
let’s not underestimate the Prime Minister’s own charm and vision for the
future of the United Kingdom. However much elements of the British press try to
paint Mr Johnson as a right-wing populist, nothing could be further from the
truth.
As
a student of Winston Churchill, who in turn was greatly influenced by his
father Lord Randolph and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Mr Johnson remains a
One Nation Conservative. This does not mean the dismantling of the welfare
state, the NHS and enhancing crony capitalism; but indeed believing in the
Union of our four nations as one, with social and economic programs that
benefit the ordinary person. It was this vision after all, not just Brexit,
that won him such a huge majority last Christmas.
The next 4
and a half years are going to be interesting.
Andrew
Crawford.