The tepid Labour leader, once so lauded, has failed to offer anything to vote for. No wonder his poll ratings are plunging
Fresh off the back of the anniversary of the first lockdown, another not-so-auspicious political landmark is looming. On Sunday it will be exactly one year since Keir Starmer claimed victory in the Labour leadership contest, powered to the top job amid a lack of charismatic competition, and promising to unify a bitterly divided party.
Starmer’s ascension, media pundits trumpeted, was Labour getting back on track. Philip Collins, writing in the Times, compared Starmer favourably to Labour prime-minister-who-never-was John Smith, stating he was “very good indeed”. Ian Dunt exclaimed that “finally, there’s a grownup in charge”, and in July celebrated the first phase of Starmer’s leadership as a “resounding success”. In the Guardian, columnists confidently predicted that, under Starmer, Labour could once more hold the Tories to account, describing the QC as a big-brained grownup wielding cool authority.
