Why I always do business over breakfast
Also this week: the blue suit brigade, conference karaoke.
ByKeir Starmer
Keir Rodney Starmer is a Labour Party politician who became Prime Minister on 5 July 2024. He has been MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and leader of Labour since April 2020. Starmer, born in 1962, studied law at the University of Leeds and Oxford, then became a barrister specialising in human rights. In 2008 he was appointed director of public prosecutions, for a five-year term. Find news, comment, and analysis about him here.
Letter of the week: Changing the future in the Middle East
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Will “shy Labour” voters decide the Tamworth by-election?
Keir Starmer’s party overturning a Tory majority of nearly 20,000 would upset a major political trend in the Midlands.
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Why isn’t Keir Starmer afraid of building on the green belt?
Shifts in voting patterns mean that building rather than blocking housing is now in Labour’s electoral interests.
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Labour is betting on the private sector for net zero
At the party’s conference this week, Labour tried to square the circle of fiscal discipline and necessary investment for the…
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The seven lessons of Labour conference
Beyond Keir Starmer, two main camps have emerged in the party: one led by Rachel Reeves, the other by Wes…
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Keir Starmer has shown he is no Blairite
The Labour leader’s invocation of class and state intervention set him apart from the politics of the 1990s.
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The Tories needed to win conference season – but they lost it
For the first time since 1996, this looked like a Labour opposition destined for election victory.
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No 10 strategists are wrong to think Keir Starmer is weak
The Labour leader has treated past embarrassments in his party with much more ruthlessness than Rishi Sunak has done.
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Labour’s quiet radicalism is getting louder
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are championing an agenda significantly to the left of New Labour.
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Fear and glitter at the Labour Party conference
After a TV grilling, Sir Keir delivered his speech in the guise of an accountant lost in Glasto.
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Keir Starmer’s speech made the Tories look like the opposition
The hopes that Rishi Sunak’s allies had for conference season have been wholly disappointed.
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Keir Starmer offers himself as a left conservative
The Labour leader is defining himself through working-class patriotism.
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Lisa Nandy puts a positive spin on demotion
“I’ve gone from levelling up the country to levelling up the world,” the shadow cabinet minister told a fringe meeting.
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Jeremy Corbyn can’t derail the Labour conference
The former leader caused a stir by refusing to condemn Hamas but his influence is much diminished.
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New polling confirms Labour is now the party of business
As the party’s conference begins, research shared exclusively with New Statesman Spotlight shows industry prefers Labour to the Tories.
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Inside the Angela Rayner show
Labour’s deputy leader has gone from political troublemaker to star act.
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Keir Starmer pledges to reverse Rwanda scheme even if declared legal
The Labour leader’s announcement opens up a clear dividing line with the Conservatives on immigration.
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Labour and the death of consensus
Britain is desperate for a new politics. Is Labour prepared to seize that chance?
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What if China invaded Taiwan?
Keir Starmer has said little about his approach to foreign policy. But if he wins the next election, his premiership…
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