Keir Starmer has not managed chaos in Great Britain for a year
“There is no plans to celebrate,” said Downing Street spokesman asked about how Prime Minister Keir Starmer intends to celebrate his first year of office. Indeed, a year after his crushing victory over conservatives in July last year, The mood is rather depressing than joyful.
Starmer promised that Great Britain would end the shocks with a decade. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, on the occasion of voting on benefits for disabled people and benefits He lost control of his own party, and thus – the fiscal policy of the country. The evening ended with a huge loss of authority, a flood of negative headers – writes about “humiliation” and “chaos” – and reluctance in its own ranks.
The Prime Minister managed to win the vote only because He largely abandoned plans for an important project and gave up the related savings. This is a consequence of a sharp dispute in the Labor Party on the effects of the implementation of more severe social policy.
The prime minister who announced difficult economic decisions to avoid tax increases or loans – The public debt of Great Britain is 100 percent. GDP “Apparently, it's not sure now how to fulfill his promise.” “Tax bomb”, as Torysi call it, seems inevitable to balance the budget.
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The heart of the matter in this less than a solemn anniversary is whether Keir Starmer – next to many other challenges he has – just has a “Starmer problem”. Chaotic vote was just the last defeat in a series of mistakes and twists. They deprive the splendor of the politician, which Many British perceived as a desirable alternative to turbulent years after Brexit under the rule of no successes of Tories.
In interviews given last week Starmer admitted with extraordinary honesty that he got into trouble. “We didn't always tell our own story as well as we could,” he said. The prime minister added that “fire fires” in the world arena consumed time and energy, which could be allocated to careful preparation for changes in the country.
The British still feel the effects of riots that spread in Southport last summer after the murder of three young children by the son of a family applying for asylum of Rwanda. AND A growing number of people arriving through the La Manche channel In search of asylum in Great Britain, she worsened the mood even more. Starmer warned that Great Britain could become a “foreign island” using this expression to show that he understands people's fears about integration.
He recognized the mood correctly, but the choice of words was strange. He reminded the opening of the racist speech of the fanatical anti -immigration activist ENOCH Powell From the late 1960s, voters sensed dishonesty, and liberal allies were appalled with right-wing-capulative rhetoric. Starmer's explanations that “he should have been a bit better to think about this speech” and did not understand the historical references of this phrase, indicate a lack of political knowledge and poor communication skills.
Keir Starmer is unsuccessfully fighting crises
The former lawyer and prosecutor general was promoted from modest beginnings to the top of the Labor Party in a complicated, full of ups and falls. Colleagues studying the law with him in Oxford in the 1980s remembered him as a serious leftist figure. He was slightly older than most members of Labor Youth on the Campus, he did not like student policy and He believed that they should be more interested in practical trade union aspects and legal support for strikes.
As a lawyer in a progressive office]Doughty Street gained a reputation by fighting powerful companies. As a secondary participant in politics, from 2015, he supported Jeremy Corbyn's leftist leadership, which ultimately helped him take the party's leadership in 2020. In the election in July 2024, he obtained a solid majority of 165 seats. The more surprising is that His control over the party broke up so quickly and dramatically.
Jeremy Corbyn, the then leader of the Labor Party, and Keir Starmer. Harlow, November 5, 2019EPA / Andy Rain / PAP
Great Britain is in crisis. Has a high debt, the economy is not doing welland secondary shocks after Brexit, the growing energy costs and acute cost pressure deteriorate the situation. Young people are now talking about “COZZIE-LIVS”-a term describing that the costs of living have just become too high.
Older voters turn away from the Labor Party in local elections, younger voters no longer vote for Starmer because they perceive him as too balanced in their own support for Israel. Looking for global partners, he concluded a trade agreement with India – an extraordinary success of Starmer, which he would like to repeat, enduring American duties in sectors important for Great Britain. However, Donald Trump is an unbelievable partner: many concessions signed by the US president have not yet brought specific benefits.
As a result The Prime Minister holds office, but controls what is happening. Many of his plans to improve public finances have been canceled or weakened. His vision did not survive contact with reality. As Mike Tyson says about boxing life: “Everyone has a plan until he gets in the face.” In fact, the “plan of growth” of the labor party was not as well thought out as its slogans.
The attempt to push away “secret” tax increases by changes in the social insurance system in order to generate higher revenues from the middle class seemed naive at best – and ultimately it brought the opposite effect to the intended one. Like his attempt to collect larger taxes from the wealthiest of the so -called Non -residents who then went to Milan and Gstaad crowds.
The prime minister spends too little time in the country?
However, he did much better abroad. The crisis in Ukraine and its clever behavior with the Trump's administration made him He became a respected figure on the international arena. To the extent that he was ridiculed by his opponents as “Never-Her Keir”, never in the homeland of the prime minister. However, Starmer was determined to build bridges with European public opinion.
The prime minister has behind him A year that would put even the most experienced politician to the rehearsal: exacerbation of American duties, the wobble support of America as the most important ally of Great Britain in Ukraine and NATO and the need to increase defense expenses, even though the cash register is empty.
Keir Starmer, British prime minister, during the NATO summit. Haga, June 25, 2025EPA, SEM van der Wal / PAP
He also had a difficult time in person. He was deeply touched by the death of his brother Nickhe looked after since childhood and who died at the age of 60. There was also a bizarre story of arson of a house belonging to the old people, which they rent, and their ownership of a car, which, as he revealed, was a “goal”.
Meeting with Starmer is a meeting with a man who is Both ambitious and hard -working – but a bit lost In how to support the political machine so important for his work. In the centralized British system, the key to success is the name. When the status of the premiere, or “the first of the ministers”, begins to fall apart, trust in the leader also decreases. He may comfort himself with the fact that there is still a long way to the next election – they will take place in 2029 at the latest.
Starmer has already shown that he can oppose the expectations that he can overcome failures and continue working. But this one Annus horribilis He left his mark – and the next few months will not be easier.
