20 October 2025

Kinnock: Keir has “months, not years” to change

The former Labour leader said he has “reservations about the capability” of Starmer’s top advisors in No 10

Keir Starmer’s week begins with a stern warning from Neil Kinnock, former Labour leader, that he needs to turn things round within months.

Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour, Kinnock called for Starmer to “demonstrate that he is authentically very Labour, with a set of principles that are practical in their application and a determination to put them into full affect.”

He said “he’s got to act quickly in order to establish clearly a direction and purpose now”.

“Now that has got to be attended to by effective management by the Prime Minister, there’s nobody else to do it, what he’s got to do in the coming months, and I mean months, not over years, is demonstrate that very clearly.”

Kinnock said the government has done some progressive things since it came to power, but that these had been “obscured” by the means-testing of winter fuel payments and other “basic errors that the government has made”.

He also said he has “reservations about the capability” of Starmer’s top advisors in No 10.

Kinnock told the BBC’s Ben Wright: “I don’t know where the focus is of the people who work in No 10 and I think that they’ve got to demonstrate sensitivity to the realities of politics. I’ve got reservations about the capability of some of the people who appear to be there. I know some of them to be extremely able and effective and they’ve demonstrated that historically. But something is not connecting effectively with the Labour Party or with basic political skills and I hope it will very rapidly.”

Despite the criticism, Kinnock praised Starmer whom he supported for Labour leader in 2020. He said: “I know he’s got it. He’s a man of high intelligence and deeply rooted principles, there’s no doubt about that.”

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