Keir Starmer is likely to be the prime minister in a few short weeks. Is there another, similar leader who could give us an insight into how he might behave in office? Starmer’s early promise was similar to that of Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, the electable face of an amicable centre-to-left. But Starmer abandoned that pretence the second he became Labour leader. He wishes he were Joe Biden, to the extent that he has followed the US line on foreign policy so closely as to alienate voters over his stance on Gaza.
In terms of his demeanour, he is reminiscent of Germany’s Olaf Scholz, and if elected, he may find himself similarly buffeted by history and unable to revive a stagnating economy. But lately, as reports have emerged of Labour enthusiastically courting consultants and lobbyists, Starmerism increasingly resembles the politics of France’s leader, Emmanuel Macron.
