The opposition leader’s misguided attempt to ‘win the right to be heard’ has only driven away his own base
The news this week that Keir Starmer is parting ways with his director of communications, deputy director of communications, chief of staff, and his political director may bring an end to an unusual experiment in political communications that has been under way inside Labour. This innovative approach to messaging has attracted some attention for its lack of memorable policies (remember “British Recovery Bonds”?). But its main feature has been the unconventional insistence, from Starmer and his top team, that voters are right to shun Labour, who deserve to lose, in favour of the Tories, who are frankly doing such an excellent job that they will naturally keep winning.
The seeds of this approach were first sown by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in the aftermath of the 2019 election defeat, when he said the British public got it right by voting Tory. The baton was soon picked up by the shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, who was keen to stress in her leadership campaign that Labour must “change or die”.
