Political anniversaries are liked more by the media than leaders or governments but Labour marked its first year in power with a brutal reckoning as it was forced to water down its benefit reform bill to a shadow of what its election manifesto had promised. As political editor Pippa Crerar writes for this week’s cover story, many inside the party are unhappy with how the first 12 months have gone. When voters gave Labour an overwhelming mandate to govern last July, one obvious selling point was Keir Starmer’s air of calm competence – a sharp contrast to the previous tumultuous Conservative governments. But with many MPs elected on wafer-thin majorities, they are becoming uneasy with Starmer’s lack of charisma or ability to conjure a strong narrative for his vision of the UK under Labour. The prime minister’s show-not-tell style has an obvious parallel with Joe Biden. As Jonathan Freedland notes, we know how that played out in the US. Watch this space as we report on Starmer’s second year at No 10.
