Park any negative thoughts you may have about Tony Blair. His first cabinet was filled with big beasts who enjoyed broad public recognition. Gordon Brown, obviously. John Prescott, Robin Cook, Margaret Beckett, David Blunkett, Mo Mowlam, Jack Straw, Frank Dobson, Clare Short and even Peter Mandelson. As Keir Starmer conducts his likely final major reshuffle before a general election, the same cannot be said for his top team.
The standout theme from this reshuffle is the ascendancy of the Blairites, cementing the repudiation of Starmer’s “Corbynism with competence and unity” 2020 leadership pitch. This means Labour now has a shadow cabinet dominated by politicians opposed to taxing the well-to-do, sceptical about public investment, fixated with expanding the private sector in public services and uncomfortable with the welfare state.
