Talk in Westminster has turned once more to what really makes Keir Starmer tick, with a long-term associate offering three explanations. The first is class consciousness, since his toolmaker father was a victim of snobbery. Second, he likes to do things by the book after excelling at law. And third, he’s more mandarin than politician, elbowing his way when director of public prosecutions into “Wednesday-morning colleagues” – a traditional weekly get-together of permanent secretaries. No wonder the first senior civil servant to become prime minister struggles at politics.
A lack of improvement in the No 10 operation has led to replacement chief of staff Morgan McSweeney enduring what they call the Sue Gray treatment; meaning: negative briefings from inside Downing Street. What goes around comes around. One groaned that if McSweeney spent as much time governing as spinning his heroic role then the machine wouldn’t continue to splutter so badly. But an upbeat colleague protested it could be worse for the softly spoken Irishman: he might work for Rachel Reeves.
Topography is why incredulous Labour MPs believe it took so long for Tulip Siddiq to leave her position as the Treasury anti-corruption minister, after she was accused of living in London properties linked to her aunt, the deposed Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina. The PM and his former appointee were both elected in 2015 for neighbouring constituencies in the north London borough. “Tulip’s lucky she didn’t live over the border in Islington,” mused a seasoned backbencher, “or she’d be sitting at the rear instead of the front.” The politics of geography spawned Blair’s Islington elite, Cameron’s Notting Hill set, a brief Truss Greenwich gang and now, apparently, a Starmer Camden cadre.
The Rasputinesque hand of Dominic Cummings, omniscient in his own head and omnipresent for rivals, is suspected by No 10 to be behind Elon Musk’s smears. This triggered a snout to recall Cummings’ outlook ahead of the 2016 referendum. “The best argument against Brexit,” mused the then Vote Leave director, “is this lot wouldn’t know what to do with it.” So it came to pass – Cummings is among the sidesteppers of responsibility.
Nigel Farage and Clacton face competition for Donald Trump. Labour’s Torcuil Crichton has invited the 45th and 47th president to visit his mother’s Lewis home in the MP’s Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency. The Reform UK owner dreams of buying the pres a pint in the Moon and Starfish. Starmer is offering Chequers and Buckingham Palace. A presidential pub crawl beckons.
[See also: No-fear Keir sidesteps naming Musk]
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This article appears in the 15 Jan 2025 issue of the New Statesman, The Disruptors
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