USA Africa Dialogue Series - Characteristics of British politics frim Guardian newspaper uK

This is from Tom Baldwin, Keir Starmer’s biographer, and head of communications for Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader.

We seem to be in a strange place where Keir Starmer is being told he must quit to prevent more uncertainty and chaos (by those who have caused much of it) but then stay on for a couple of months because the guy who has been desperate to take his job is not yet ready to do so…

And these are from John Slinger MP, another Labour voice supportive of the PM.

Keir Starmer has a mandate from Labour members.

He stood on a manifesto and won a mandate from the British people

His challengers haven’t even bothered to challenge him.

What is their manifesto, their prospectus for [Britain].

What would their mandate be?

[Coronations] are for Kings not PMs

Modern politics:

Consumerisation

Rights not responsibilities

Instant gratification

Rolling news over analysis

Blame culture

Toxic social media

Charisma over character

Popularity over policy

Politics = my life over life experience

Disagreeing disagreeably

Short-termism

Out-dated

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2h ago

08.58 BST

If you are curious as to why the Labour party is ditching Keir Starmer as PM after less than two years in office, when he clearly isn’t a total disaster like Liz Truss, or a complete scoundrel like Boris Johnson, you should have a look at a terrific series of essays by Chris Clarke on Substack about trust in politics. Starmer is being forced out in part because of mistakes he has made, and weaknesses he has as a communicator and a leader. But he is also in part being forced out because he is operating in an environment where the public are more hostile to politicians than ever before in the modern era.

This chart illustrates this best; it shows the average net satisfaction with all the main party leaders at all points since 1977. As with much in British public life, it’s got a lot worse since Brexit.

Average net satisfaction with all party leaders since 1977

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