Starmer reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times: in June 2020, May 2021, June 2021, November 2021 and September 2023; his Shadow Cabinet has been described as being dominated by Blairites since the last reshuffle in 2023. In February 2023, the party's antisemitism reforms resulted in the party no longer being monitored by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). His supporters have praised him for his antisemitism reforms and helping make the Labour Party look more credible than it did during the previous leadership, which in the view of Starmer, has put the party back in the service of working people.[1] His critics have accused him of unfairly treating leftist Labour members, controlling the party in an authoritarian manner and dropping the pledges he made in his leadership bid.[2] Starmer also received criticism over his views on the Israel–Hamas war and initial refusal to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in resignations of Labour councillors; he later called for a ceasefire.
In the 2019 general election, Labour suffered its worst election defeat since 1935, with the Conservative Party earning an 80-seat majority.[3][4] Labour won 203 seats, gaining 32.2% of the vote.[4] This was the Labour Party's fourth consecutive general election defeat.[5] Following Labour's defeat, Corbyn announced that he would stand down as Leader of the Labour Party.[6] Starmer began to distance himself from Corbyn's leadership and many of the policies he put forward at the election, revealing in 2024 that he was "certain that we would lose the 2019 election".[7] Corbyn responded by saying "Well, he never said that to me, at any time. And so I just think rewriting history is no help. It shows double standards, shall we say, that he now says he always thought that but he never said it at the time or anything about it. He was part of the campaign. He and I spoke together at events and I find it actually quite sad."[8] Following the party's defeat at the 2019 election, Corbyn announced that he would stand down as Leader of the Labour Party following a "process of reflection".[9]
On 4 January 2020, Starmer announced his candidacy for the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, following the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election.[10] By 8 January, it was reported that Starmer had gained enough nominations from Labour MPs and MEPs to get onto the ballot paper, and that the trade union Unison was backing him. Unison, with 1.3 million members, said Starmer was the best placed candidate to unite the party and regain public trust.[11] He also gained support from former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mayor of LondonSadiq Khan.[12]
During the leadership election, Starmer ran a left-wing platform. He positioned himself in opposition to austerity, stating that Corbyn was "right" to position Labour as the "party of anti-austerity".[13][14] He indicated he will continue with the Labour policy of scrapping tuition fees as well as pledging "common ownership" of rail, mail, energy and water companies and called for ending outsourcing in the NHS, local governments and the justice system.[15] Supporters of Rebecca Long-Bailey criticised Starmer for releasing details of his campaign donations on the register of members' interests rather than independently, as Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy had done, which meant that some details of his donors were not published until after the election had ended.[16][17]
Starmer went on to win the leadership contest on 4 April 2020, defeating Long-Bailey and Nandy, with 56.2% of the vote in the first round,[18] and subsequently became Leader of the Opposition.[19][20] In his acceptance speech, he said would refrain from "scoring party political points" and that he planned to "engage constructively with the government", having become Leader of the Opposition amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[21]
Starmer's tenure has seen the party move closer towards the political centre.[27][28][29] Speaking at the party's annual conference in 2021, the first time Starmer addressed the annual conference in person since becoming the leader, he presented his focus on stronger economy and tougher stances on crime, repositioning the party away from the previous leadership.[30] By 2022, Starmer had dropped most of the socialist policies he advocated during his leadership run, including pledges made to nationalise water and energy, scrap tuition fees, and defend free movement within the EU.[31][32] Starmer responded to criticism in 2023 by stating that they remained "important statements of value and principle", but cited the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the economic crisis resulting from the 2022 mini-budget as having meant that these pledges have had to be adapted.[33]
Under Starmer's tenure, the party still supports the renationalisation of Britain's railways,[34] and has pledged to create a publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, to "compete with private industry and promote clean energy", differentiated from full nationalisation of the energy industry as previously pledged.[35][36] In February 2023, Starmer set out five "national missions" as the basis for Labour's manifesto for the 2024 general election:[37] achieving the highest sustained growth in the G7 by the end of his first term,[38] establishing the UK as a "clean energy superpower" with zero-carbon electricity by 2030; enacting health and care reform, improving the justice system, and dismantling the barriers to opportunity" with education and childcare reforms.[38] Upon becoming Labour leader, he tasked Brown with recommending British constitutional reforms.[39] The report was published in 2022 and was endorsed and promoted by Starmer, and recommended the abolition of the House of Lords, extending greater powers to local councils and mayors, and deeper devolution to the countries of the United Kingdom.[40] In November 2022, Starmer said that he would strip politicians of the power to appoint people to the House of Lords in the first term of a Labour government,[41] adding that the public's trust in the political system had been undermined by successive Conservative leaders granting peerages to "lackeys and donors".[42] Labour's 2024 election manifesto Change, however, did not recommend abolition to the House of Lords, instead committing only to removal of the remaining hereditary peers from the chamber, setting a mandatory retirement age of 80, and beginning a consultation on replacing the Lords with a "more representative" body.[43]
In September 2023, Starmer reshuffled his shadow cabinet for the third time since taking over as leader.[62][63] Writers from The Guardian and Politico said that the Blairite wing of the party had prospered in the reshuffle to the detriment of the soft left of the party.[64][65] One shadow minister, said of the reshuffle, "It's all the Blairites" and called it "an entirely factional takeover".[66] Starmer said that he was putting his "strongest possible players on the pitch" ahead of the upcoming general election.[67] Tom Belger writing for LabourList described the reshuffle as a continuing of "Labour’s right-ward march".[68]
Starmer's deputy Angela Rayner received the shadow levelling up post, replacing Lisa Nandy who was demoted to the shadow minister for international development.[67] The most senior members of the shadow cabinet remained in their positions.[67]Rosena Allin-Khan, who was the shadow minister for mental health before the reshuffle, resigned from the Shadow Cabinet, criticising shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting's advocacy for outsourcing the NHS to the private sector.[69] She also said that Starmer did "not see a space for a mental health portfolio in a Labour cabinet".[70][71][72] The reshuffle coincided with the start of the tenure of Sue Gray as Starmer's new chief of staff.[73]
2024 general election
A fairer, healthier, a more secure Britain, at the service of working people, with growth from every community. A Britain ready to restore that promise. The bond that reaches through the generations and says – this country will be better for your children. That is the change on offer on 4 July. That is our plan and I invite you all to join our mission to stop the chaos, turn the page and start to rebuild our country.
Labour Manifesto Launch, 13 June 2024
Starmer has led his party in the 2024 general election, which he said was an "opportunity for change" and offered three reasons why voters should vote Labour, firstly to "stop the chaos", secondly "because it’s time for change" and thirdly because Labour have "a long-term plan to rebuild Britain" that "is ready to go, fully-costed and fully funded."[74] Projections four weeks before the vote indicated a landslide victory for Labour that would surpass the one achieved by Tony Blair at the 1997 general election, while comparisons have been made in the media to the 1993 Canadian federal election, due to the prospect of a potential Conservative wipeout.[75][76]
On 13 June, Starmer released the Labour Party manifesto Change, which focuses on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, what Starmer describes as ‘clean energy’, healthcare, education, childcare, and strengthening workers' rights.[77][78] It pledges a new publicly owned energy company, a 'Green Prosperity Plan', reducing patient waiting times in the NHS, and renationalisation of the railway network.[79] It includes wealth creation and 'pro-business and pro-worker' policies.[80] The manifesto also pledged to give votes to 16 year olds, reform the House of Lords, and to tax private schools, with money generated going into improving state education.[81][82]
In May 2022, Starmer said he would resign if he received a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations while campaigning during the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election and local elections the previous year.[83] The controversy surrounding the event was dubbed "Beergate".[84] He and Rayner were both cleared by Durham Police in July 2022 who said there was "no case to answer".[85]
Slur controversy
While speaking in the House of Commons on 31 January 2022, Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for the non-prosecution of serial sex offender Jimmy Savile when Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted.[86] Johnson received criticism for the comment and his policy adviser, Munira Mirza, resigned three days later, saying that Johnson had made "a scurrilous accusation".[87]Julian Smith, the former chief whip, and Simon Hoare were among Conservatives who called for Johnson to apologise. On 3 February, during an interview with Sky News, Johnson defended his comments, stating that in 2013, Starmer apologised because the CPS had not investigated Savile; however, Johnson then said: "I totally understand that he [Starmer] had nothing to do personally with those decisions".[88]
2022 NATO and Ukraine policy dispute
Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, 11 Labour backbench MPs signed a letter by the Stop the War Coalition that accused the UK government of "sabre-rattling" and said that NATO "should call a halt to its eastward expansion and commit to a new security deal for Europe which meets the needs of all states and peoples", whilst also arguing that NATO was an aggressive organisation due to military actions taken by its members outside its borders in the past. The MPs were asked by the party whips, representatives of the leadership tasked with maintaining discipline among Labour MPs, to remove their names from the statement under threat of being expelled from the party and all quickly agreed to do so. A spokesperson for the Labour Party said that this action ensured that every Labour MP understood that their party was on the side of "Britain, Nato, freedom and democracy".[89][90] At around this time, Young Labour's Twitter account was suspended after it criticised the leadership policy towards NATO.[91] In an interview with the BBC in March 2022, Starmer was asked whether he would be hoping that MPs who backed Stop the War "won't be standing at the next election or if they do whether [he would] be fully supporting them to do so". After repeatedly being accused of not answering the question, Starmer gave the answer of "well, they are Labour MPs and of course I support them, but all of our MPs will go through a process for selection into the next election".[92]
Industrial action policy disputes
The summer of 2022 saw significant amounts of industrial unrest.[93][94] Starmer instructed members of his shadow cabinet to refrain from joining picket lines;[95] some Labour MPs appeared on picket-lines including frontbenchers Kate Osborne, Paula Barker, Peter Kyle, and Navendu Mishra. The Labour Party's contingents in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments also took a different approach.[96][97]Sam Tarry, Shadow Minister for Buses and Local Transport, was dismissed on 27 July after appearing on a rail strike picket. He said in a TV interview that workers should receive a pay rise in line with inflation though Labour policy was that pay increases should be based on negotiation. A spokesperson for the party said that "Sam Tarry was sacked because he booked himself onto media programmes without permission and then made up policy on the hoof."[98] His dismissal was criticised by trade union leaders and Tarry wrote in an opinion piece for the i that "failing to join the striking rail workers on a picket line would have been an abject dereliction of duty for me as a Labour MP."[99][100]
Diane Abbott's suspension and whip restoration
In April 2023, after writing an article in The Observer, former Shadow Home SecretaryDiane Abbott was suspended as a Labour MP pending an investigation.[101][102] In the article, Abbott claimed that although "many types of white people with points of difference" such as Jewish, Irish or Traveller people can experience prejudice, they are not subject to racism "all their lives".[102][101] Abbott later apologised for the article, saying that she had erroneously sent an early draft of her article.[101] A Labour Party statement said that the comments were "deeply offensive and wrong".[102] Starmer said that she was suspended due to anti-Semitism.[101] The Labour Party National Executive Committee concluded its inquiry into her comments in December 2023 and issued her with a "formal warning". The Labour Party restored the whip on 28 May 2024. Abbott said she had been barred from standing as a Labour Party candidate at the 2024 general election, but Starmer later said she would be "free" to stand as a Labour candidate.[103]
Neal Lawson's possible expulsion
In June 2023, Neal Lawson, the chair of the centre-left think tank, Compass, faced possible expulsion from the Labour Party after 44 years of membership due to tweeting in 2021 in favour of other political parties working together with Labour against the Tories.[104] In response to being notified of his possible expulsion, Lawson said that the party had become obsessed with "petty tyranny" and under the leadership of Keir Starmer the party had been captured by a clique who are "behaving like playground bullies".[104] Labour MP Jon Cruddas accused the party under Starmer of being right-wing, illiberal and of enacting a "witch-hunt", calling the decision regarding Lawson a "disgrace".[105]
After the 7 October attacks which began the Israel–Hamas war, Starmer expressed support for Israel, condemned "terrorists of Hamas", and said, "This action by Hamas does nothing for Palestinians. And Israel must always have the right to defend her people."[106][107] In an interview with LBC on 11 October 2023, Starmer was asked whether it would be appropriate for Israel to totally cut off power and water supplies to the Gaza Strip, with Starmer replying that "I think that Israel does have that right" and that "obviously everything should be done within international law".[108][109] On 20 October, after criticism and resignations of Labour councillors, Starmer said that he only meant that Israel had the right to defend itself.[109][110] Starmer had said that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas for future attacks, instead calling for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach Gaza.[111] As of 6 November 2023, 50 of Labour's councillors had resigned over the issue.[112]
On 16 November 2023, Starmer suffered a major rebellion when 56 of his MPs (including ten frontbenchers) defied a three-line whip in voting for a Scottish National Party (SNP) motion proposed by Stephen Flynn to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.[113][114] Prior to the vote, Starmer stated that Labour MPs with positions in his Shadow Cabinet would be sacked if they voted in favour of the ceasefire vote.[113] This then led to the loss of ten frontbenchers, including eight shadow ministers.[113] In December 2023, Starmer followed Prime MinisterRishi Sunak in changing his stance by calling for a "sustainable ceasefire" in relation to Gaza, which also came after the Foreign SecretaryDavid Cameron's same change in position. Starmer stated his support for a "two-stage" "two-state solution".[115][116][117] The Labour Party under Starmer suspended several parliamentary candidates and MPs, including Graham Jones, Andy McDonald, Azhar Ali and Kate Osamor, for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments about Israel during the Israel-Hamas war, or for describing its conduct as genocide.[118][119] On 18 February 2024, Starmer called for a "ceasefire that lasts" and said it must "happen now", having previously refused to call for a ceasefire.[120][121][122]
Starmer's critics have accused him of unfairly treating leftist Labour members, controlling the party in an authoritarian manner and dropping the pledges he made in his leadership bid.[2] Starmer also received criticism over his views on the Israel–Hamas war and initial refusal to call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in several protests and resignations of Labour councillors.
During his leadership, Starmer has been accused of being authoritarian on civil liberties issues including not committing to overturn the Conservative Party's anti-protest bill.[123][124][125] Furthermore, Starmer has been accused of managing the party in an authoritarian manner.[124][126] Writing in the Middle East Eye, Peter Oborne and Richard Sanders described Starmer as having an "anti-democratic and above all illiberal" intolerance for dissent within the party.[127] Under Starmer the think tank Labour Together have been described as "crucial" to his "vision for government".[128] In a review of The Starmer Project, Richard Seymour wrote "[t]o voters [Starmer] is a blur, more an artful flatterer than substantive presence in the political life of the nation, gently reheating Blairite dogmas rather than offering anything new". He described Starmer as "an ambitious centrist with an authoritarian streak, [who built] his leadership principally on the strength of having served under Corbyn and passionately advocated Remain" while crushing the hopes of Corbynism and "restor[ing] the establishment to power".[129]
Starmer's politics have been described as unclear and "hard to define".[130][131][132] When he was elected as Labour leader, Starmer was widely believed to belong to the soft left of the Labour Party.[133] However, he has since moved to the political centre-ground.[134] By the September 2023 shadow cabinet reshuffle, most analysts concluded that Starmer had moved to the right of the party, and had demoted and marginalised those on the soft left, replacing them with Blairites.[135][136][137][138][139]
The term Starmerism has been coined to refer to Starmer's political ideology and his supporters have been called Starmerites.[140][141] In June 2023, Starmer gave an interview to Time where he was asked to define Starmerism:[142]
Recognizing that our economy needs to be fixed. Recognizing that [solving] climate change isn’t just an obligation; it’s the single biggest opportunity that we’ve got for our country going forward. Recognizing that public services need to be reformed, that every child and every place should have the best opportunities and that we need a safe environment, safe streets, et cetera.
In April 2023, Starmer gave an interview to The Economist on defining Starmerism.[141][143] In this interview, two main strands of Starmerism were identified.[143] The first strand focused on a critique of the British state for being too ineffective and over-centralised. The answer to this critique was to base governance on five main missions[broken anchor] to be followed over two terms of government; these missions would determine all government policy. The second strand was the adherence to an economic policy of "modern supply-side economics" based on expanding economic productivity by increasing participation in the labour market, mitigating the impact of Brexit and simplifying the construction planning process.[144]
Starmer was criticised for the Labour Party's failure to win the 2021 Hartlepool by-election. Hartlepool is part of the "red wall", a set of constituencies that historically supported the Labour Party but where the party is being challenged by increasing Conservative support.[150] The Labour Party candidate Paul Williams was a vocal advocate of a second referendum on EU membership; 70% of voters in the constituency of Hartlepool had voted to leave the EU, leading to criticism that Starmer had made the wrong decision in advocating for Williams to be selected as the candidate.[151][152] The Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer won the by-election with 51.9% of the vote and a swing from Labour of almost 16%.[153] It became only the second time since 1982 that the governing party gained a seat in a by-election,[153] and the first Conservative win in the constituency since its creation in 1974.[154] A biography about Starmer was published in February 2024 which reported that he considered resigning in the aftermath of the defeat in Hartlepool.[155] The book reported that Starmer wanted to quit as leader of the party before being persuaded to stay by close aides.[155]
The 2022 local elections on 5 May took place during a more difficult period for the government, which was facing problems such as Partygate and a cost of living crisis.[161][162] The Labour Party made gains across Great Britain winning by far the largest number of seats overall.[163] Some on the British left said that Labour had underperformed in comparison with smaller parties.[164] In December 2022, Labour held both the City of Chester and Stretford and Urmston in by-elections with an increased margin for Labour.[165][166] The result in Chester was the party's best-ever result in the seat.
2023
The 2023 local elections on 4 May saw significant losses for the government, which lost over 1,000 council seats.[167] The Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales all made gains, with Labour becoming the party with most members elected to local government for the first time since 2002.[168] With Labour gaining over 500 seats, Starmer claimed that the election sets the party "on course for a Labour majority at the next general election".[167]
In February 2024, Labour gained two seats from the Conservatives in by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood.[171] The Wellingborough by-election saw a swing of 28.5% which was the second highest swing from the Conservatives to Labour in a by-election since 1945.[171] Labour lost the seat of Rochdale in a by-election to the Workers Party of Britain leader George Galloway, who won almost 40% of the vote and overturned a Labour majority of 9,668 with Labour finishing 4th in the contest.[172][173] Labour had withdrawn support for their candidate Azhar Ali during the campaign after comments he had made that were widely alleged to be anti-Semitic.[174][173] Starmer later apologised to the voters of Rochdale but said that it was the right decision to withdraw support.[173] In the local elections, Labour gained 186 seats.[175] They also gained the newly formed combined authority mayoral positions of East Midlands, the North East and York and North Yorkshire, as well as gaining the West Midlands mayoralty from the Conservatives.[175] Labour gained Blackpool South in a by-election on the same day with a 26.3% swing.[176]
Since the end of 2021, when the Partygate scandal began, Labour have maintained leads in opinion polling over the governing Conservative Party,[177] often by very wide margins.[178] By mid-October 2022, Labour were recording polling leads such as 36% against the Conservatives according to Redfield & Wilton.[179] In May 2024, Labour recorded their highest polling lead over the SNP in Scotland for a decade.[180] Starmer has maintained a consistent lead over Sunak in leadership opinion polls, albeit not as consistent as his party's lead.
Party management
EHRC report, exclusion of Corbyn and antisemitism reforms
Following past accusations of antisemitism in the party during Corbyn's tenure, Starmer pledged to end antisemitism in the party during his acceptance speech, saying "Anti-semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it's brought to so many Jewish communities. On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry. And I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us."[181][182]
In April 2020, an internal party report on antisemitism (The Work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in Relation to Anti-semitism, 2014–2019) was leaked.[183][184] It was made during the end of Corbyn's leadership, intended for submission to the EHRC, and dated March 2020.[185] It detailed that there was a tangible issue with antisemitism in the party, but factional hostility to Corbyn hampered efforts to tackle it.[186] In January 2023, it was reported that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) were not going to take action against the Corbyn-supporting authors of the report, which leaked with unredacted confidential information, and that the Labour Party would pursue a civil case against them.[187][188][189] This internal report led to the Forde Report.[190][189]
In October 2020, following the release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)'s report into antisemitism in the party, Starmer accepted its findings in full and apologised to Jews on behalf of the party.[191][192] The report said that there was "a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it".[193] The report also found that the party had broken equality laws due to the handling of antisemitism complaints.[193] Starmer added that the findings were "hard to read" and that it had "been a day of shame for the Labour Party".[193] Later that day, Corbyn said that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, and was suspended from the party, he was later expelled from the Labour Party after standing as an independent candidate for Islington North in the 2024 general election.[194]
On 17 July 2022, the Forde Report was published, having been commissioned by Starmer at the beginning of his leadership.[195][196] It described how groups within Labour had sought to hinder Corbyn while leader of the Labour Party and said that during his leadership it broke into factions which supported or opposed him, though this factionalism had decreased since Starmer took leadership.[195][197] The report said that groups within the party who were in support and opposition to Corbyn both sought to use allegations of antisemitism in the party during his leadership to further their political interests.[196][198] The report detailed bullying, racism, and sexism within the party.[199][200] The report also said many of those within the party from whom it gathered evidence were concerned the party operated a "hierarchy of racism or of discrimination", with more resources being allocated to investigate claims of antisemitism, amid their surge and political importance, compared to other forms of discrimination.[199][201][202] Starmer was criticised for his lack of response to the report and the problems within the party that it highlighted, in particular anti-black racism and Islamophobia.[203][204][205]
In February 2023, Starmer's antisemitism reforms resulted in the party no longer being monitored by the EHRC.[206] After having previously resigned from the party in February 2019 citing the handling of antisemitism allegations in the party, former Labour MP Luciana Berger rejoined in February 2023.[193] Berger accepted an apology from Starmer, adding that the party had "turned a significant corner".[193]
2021 party governance changes
In the run up to Labour's conference in September 2021, the party announced plans to reform its governance structure with changes including the return of its older electoral college which would give MPs, members and trade unions a third of the vote each in future leadership elections.[207] Starmer's spokespeople said that this was a way to strengthen the party's link with the trade union movement but commentators described the changes as an attempt to increase the power of MPs and trade unions at the expense of the general membership, along with being a symbolic act to draw a distinction between Starmer and Corbyn.[208][207]
Starmer gave up on the electoral college after it failed to gain the support of trade unions;[209] the party's executive committee agreed to send a series of more modest reforms to conference, including increasing the percentage of Labour MPs a candidate would need the support of to get on the leadership election ballot, banning the party's newest members from voting, and making it harder for members to deselect MPs.[210] These changes were later passed by a small margin.[211][212] The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union voted to end its affiliation to Labour dating back to early in the party's history, commenting that it had "travelled away from the aims and hopes of working-class organisations like ours" under Starmer's leadership.[213]
Election candidate selection process controversy
With the Labour Party needing to gain many new seats if they are to win the 2024 general election, and with at least a dozen of their standing MPs planning to stand down before the next election, by early November 2022, the party had started the selection process for the new candidates they will need.[214][215] In October and November 2022, Starmer was accused of designing and using Labour's new selection process for parliamentary candidates to prevent Corbyn-supporting, left-wing, or disloyal prospective MPs from being able to stand at the 2024 general election.[216][217][218]
Party members who supported Corbyn said that under Starmer's leadership, they are being targeted for exclusion by the selection process.[214] Under the selection system, step one is to get onto a 'longlist', which will then be refined down to a 'shortlist'. BBC News says that unnamed potential candidates have said that party employees are being "tasked" to search their online activities for reasons to keep them off the 'longlist'.[214] One unnamed Labour MP from the left of the party said of the party leadership that they were "drunk on power" and that they went "beyond anything from the Blair years".[214] The party defended this activity saying it was for quality control purposes. John McTernan, a former advisor for Tony Blair, supported the activity, saying Labour needs to return "good MPs" with "mainstream Labour values" for the coming election adding that under Corbyn, too much "flotsam and jetsam" became Labour MPs. A Labour representative said "Due diligence is about weeding out candidates who could cause electoral damage".[214]
On 13 November 2022, The Guardian said that under Starmer, the way the selection panel has "exerted tight control" over how candidates are selected for shortlisting had become "extraordinary".[219] Starmer "allies" say that selection vetting needs to be tougher as there has recently been a lot of MPs "suspended, arrested or [...] embarrassed for ill-advised tweets".[219]The Guardian added that the measures often appear to be factional even though previous scandals have not solely involved candidates from the party's left.[219] The co-chair of Momentum, Hilary Schan, said how times were hard for the left in the Labour party, amid the "controversy over party selections" in which candidates from the left-wing of the party were "excluded from shortlists".[220]New Statesman credits Starmer's campaign director, Morgan McSweeney, with the idea of "marginalising left-wingers" using a more stringent selection process.[217] In 2023, the paper went on to rank McSweeney as the third most influential left wing figure in the UK, describing him as Starmer's "most trusted aide".[221]
On 27 January 2023, HuffPost reported that after an encounter with the leaders of Scottish Labour and Welsh Labour, Starmer had "been forced into a U-turn" over the candidate selection process.[222] Scotland's Anas Sarwar and Wales's Mark Drakeford were said to be "frustrated" for not being consulted over the idea of imposing the process used in England on the Scottish and Welsh branches of the party.[222] Following the exchange, it is reported that it was agreed that any new process would have to be agreed jointly.[222] The fear of the proposed English system was that it was designed to prioritise candidates close to the leadership, and to block candidates on the left of the party, thus be used to “stitch up” the candidate shortlists. Starmer's aides characterised the English checks as being used to weed out candidates who may be unsuitable to stand for parliament or who may risk damaging the party’s reputation.[222]
Party membership numbers and finances
Starmer inherited a party membership of 552,835 when he replaced Jeremy Corbyn as leader in April 2020. By the time of the NEC vote seven months later, that had dropped by 56,874, more than 10%, to 495,961, but still the largest of any UK party.[223][224]
By the end of 2021, membership had fallen to 432,213, a drop of more than 21% since Starmer became leader,[225] but still more than double the membership of the Conservative Party.[226]Momentum, a left-wing campaign group, said Starmer's "factional" leadership was to blame as it alienated trade unions.[226] Starmer dismissed this, saying it followed the pattern of membership going up before an election and flattening off again after.[226] Labour therefore made a £5 million loss in 2021 leading to some staff redundancies with the loss in membership fees as well as ongoing legal battles with former staff being key factors for this loss.[225][227] In July 2023, it was revealed that the party's membership had fallen further to 399,195.[228]
By the second quarter of 2022, the Labour Party received more than £10.4 million including a £3 million donation from supermarket baron David Sainsbury and a £2.2 million donation from business tycoon Gary Lubner.[229] Labour also received £2.7 million from public donations and trade unions.[229]
Pro-palestine protests
Pro-Palestinian protester criticising Labour leader Keir Starmer, 28 October 2023
Pro-Palestine protesters expressed their disagreement and disapproval of Starmer's position on Israel's actions towards Palestinians.[230][231] Protesters interrupted Yvette Cooper's speech, holding up "Ceasefire now" signs, during the King's Speech debate in the House of Commons as she spoke about the crisis in Israel.[232] Protesters demonstrated outside Labour's London headquarters, chanting "Keir Starmer, you can't hide, you're endorsing genocide" and calling for the party to "change their policy ... and to demand an immediate ceasefire".[230] The war dominated the Rochdale by-election, which was won by George Galloway, who said "Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You will pay a high price for the role that you have played in enabling, encouraging and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in occupied Gaza, in the Gaza Strip".[233][234][235]
Following a parliamentary vote on a ceasefire, from which the majority of Labour MPs abstained, MPs' constituency offices were targeted. Jo Stevens, one of the abstaining MPs, had the word "Murderer" graffitied on her Cardiff Central office, and stickers and posters were stuck up saying the MP had "blood ... on her hands" and supported the killing of babies.[236] Protesters demonstrated outside the office of Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove, who also abstained on the vote for a ceasefire. The protesters left a list of demands at the MP's office, including that the MP denounce Israel's "illegal use of excessive force", call for an immediate ceasefire and demand a stop to arms exports to Israel.[237]Steve McCabe's Birmingham Selly Oak office was another outside which protesters gathered, this time calling for the MP's deselection.[238] Hundreds of people marched through Labour leader Keir Starmer's constituency and protested outside his office, critical of his handling of the crisis.[231][239] 100,000 signed a petition to expel Tzipi Hotovely.[240] Protesters interrupted an event held by Angela Rayner, with one woman telling Rayner, "You call yourself a modern-day feminist, I don’t think so."[241] In January 2024, the speech of Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.[242] In March 2024, a group of women protesting outside parliament shaved their heads in solidarity with the women of Gaza.[243]
Andrew Francis Slaughter is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hammersmith, and before that, Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, since 2005. Prior to his election to Parliament, he had served as Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
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This article summarises the views and voting record of Keir Starmer, who has been Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom since 4 April 2020. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras from 2015 to 2024, and was previously Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013.
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↑ Stacey, Kiran (18 January 2024). "Unions tell Starmer of members' anger over Gaza ceasefire position". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024. Retrieved 19 March 2024. Union leaders have told Keir Starmer his position on Gaza risks alienating millions of Britons, telling the Labour leader their members are increasingly angry about his refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
↑ "The Forde Report"(PDF). p.81. Retrieved 24 October 2022. Other themes included concerns that the attention to the surge of cases relating to antisemitism and the importance they appeared to play in the interfactional conflict meant that the Party was in effect operating a hierarchy of racism or of discrimination with other forms of racism and discrimination being ignored. For a Party which seeks to be a standard bearer of progressive politics, equality, and workers' rights, this is an untenable situation. The Party must live by its values and lead by example.
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