Davos or Westminster?
Starmer awkward but effective
Keir Starmer has been criticised repeatedly for a real lack of personality. In fact, he is simply doing his best to stick to very rigid lines.
“My dad was a toolmaker, my mum was a nurse” is a line that I have heard far too many times from the Labour Leader. There is nothing wrong with it in itself, but after a while you start to wonder if Keir is capable of saying anything else.
Every since winning the Labour leadership, Starmer has become more and more robotic, everyday sounding more like a broken record on issues like Brexit, immigration and Corbyn.
Unfortunately, Starmer simply recognises the reality of the biased UK media, and he understands that he must distance himself from Corbyn as much as possible. There is no reality in which he would sit next to Piers over Jeremy, I’m sure, yet we live in a world where a phone hacker is more acceptable than a lifelong socialist activist.
The Davos question was particularly awkward for Keir, yet he handled it well. If he could have answered simply “anywhere but Westminster”, that would have been perfect, but he did a good job in getting his point across. Labour need to continue to push their local devolution case, such that people recognise them as the party of local government and levelling up.
Still, it should be possible to be a touch more compassionate and human. Of course Blair managed it expertly, but Starmer could also learn a lot from Andy Burnham.
Andy Burnham’s Question Time performance in November was impressive, as he always is. The Greater Manchester Mayor showed clear, compassionate solidarity with striking workers - something Starmer has seemed terrified to do. Burnham comes across genuine and relaxed. His accent helps him of course, while Starmer will always be a North London lawyer. When Keir does talk about issues that are important to him, he seems passionate and caring, it’s just unfortunate that he can’t replicate this all the time.
