Commons Confidential: No Drama Starmer
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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.
How Keir Starmer’s new-look Labour Party can catch up with the Tories
The Conservatives will have some easy attack lines at the next general election – and Labour should be ready.
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Thangam Debbonaire interview: “Labour isn’t quite ready to win an election – but there is a shift”
The shadow leader of the House and Labour MP for Bristol West on opposing Jacob Rees-Mogg, Labour’s prospects of winning…
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Keir Starmer’s new-look shadow cabinet is less than the sum of its parts
Something doesn’t make sense here.
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Keir Starmer must face reality: only a progressive alliance can defeat the Tories
It is time for Labour and the Liberal Democrats to put the country ahead of narrow party interests and work…
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Keir Starmer begins a reshuffle – and picks a fight
The Labour leader’s restructuring is an effort to finish what he started in May, when he unsuccessfully tried to sack…
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As inflation spikes, Labour must seize the agenda to argue for a fairer economy
A wage policy for the public sector and a new regime for household energy are needed.
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LISTEN: Keir Starmer refuses five times to say whether Jeremy Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris Johnson
Asked repeatedly on a radio interview whether he would prefer his predecessor in No 10, the Labour leader avoided the…
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Chris Bryant interview: “Labour should put the ministerial code into law”
The Labour MP and standards committee chair on how his party should respond to the MP corruption scandal and why…
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Labour now leads the Tories in most polls – but it should avoid celebration
Current polling owes more to Tory weakness than it does to Labour strength.
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Why Boris Johnson’s departure could make a Labour government even less likely
By replacing Johnson with the more popular and competent Rishi Sunak, the Tories could once more renew themselves.
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If you want to clean up this sleazy parliament, start by listening to Billy Bragg
Reforming the House of Lords could be disarmingly simple.
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Labour must forge a progressive alliance to defeat Boris Johnson’s rotten government
In Turkey, Hungary and Israel, opposition parties have united against governments that threaten democracy. Britain’s parties should do the same.
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Commons Confidential: Matt Hancock can run but he can’t hide
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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In the post-Corbyn world, what next for alternative left media?
How are radical start-up outlets that thrived under the last Labour leader faring in the Keir Starmer era, and against…
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The UK-EU relationship is unravelling before Keir Starmer’s eyes – but still he ties himself in knots over Brexit
The latest Brexit talks raise the issue of Irish nationalism – which is especially divisive within Westminster, and above all…
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Why are the Tories still leading in the polls?
The Conservatives have been in power for 11 years. Why isn’t the country sick of them yet?
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What Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff needs to know
Every conversation is a focus group if treated properly. As the Greek philosopher Epictetus said: “We have two ears and…
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Keir Starmer’s conference speech polled better than Boris Johnson’s – but does it matter?
In focus groups shown the speeches, Starmer came out on top for content, agreeableness, and perceptions of competence.
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Keir Starmer’s speech in numbers: how did it compare to previous leaders’?
His speech paid more attention to the climate crisis than any other Labour leader’s, but less to the cost of…
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