Starmer’s departure today is the end of a tragedy. As he exits Downing Street, I wonder if he reflects on where it all went wrong… I do.
Back in 2020, Keir Starmer became the newly elected Labour leader with a landslide based on support from all wings of the party. His internal campaign team reflected that diversity of support, and so too – to some extent – did his first shadow cabinet.
The ten point policy programme on which he was elected had yet to be renounced, and by autumn Labour had drawn level in the polls with Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.
That autumn, as lockdown eased and Rishi Sunak was offering “eat out to help out”, Keir Starmer invited me to meet with him in Westminster. We spoke one-on-one for just over half an hour and Starmer tentatively inquired if I would be willing to work on policy closer to the next general election.
I told him I was open to doing so, but it became moot as Starmer drifted rightwards driving out left voices within his own team and shadow cabinet. My private and public criticisms of his increasingly factional leadership also made that untenable.
