Sir Keir Starmer’s reboot is clearly a strategy to win over voters disillusioned with the government’s performance. The prime minister is personally unpopular. Labour’s standing in the polls has sunk after avoidable fights with pensioners and farmers. The public seem unimpressed by Sir Keir’s contradictory stance that Labour faces a worse inheritance than expected, yet his pre-election framing remains unchanged. If the former is true, the latter seems doubtful. Voters expect a government to tackle problems, not lament them. Hence, Sir Keir’s team aims to cast the five “missions” he outlined on the campaign trail into a delivery plan with updated targets.
Sounds familiar? It echoes the approach of the previous prime minister, Rishi Sunak. In January 2023, Mr Sunak attempted to turn the page on Tory chaos by making five ambitious pledges, including cutting NHS waiting lists and “stopping the boats”. He was supposed to be a calm, reassuring figure. Multiple cabinet reshuffles and stunning losses at the ballot box had him, less than a year later, vowing to end the “30-year status quo” in British politics. Voters thought the Tory leader never made good on his promise. In July, he led the Conservatives to the party’s worst-ever election defeat.
