Once Keir Starmer had beaten the left, he had no plan for government

Once Keir Starmer had beaten the left, he had no plan for government Submitted by Oscar Rickett on Mon, 06/22/2026 - 14:33 'He was rubbish on all metrics,' one civil servant says of prime minister, who presented himself as the grown-up politician UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces the timeline for his resignation, following Andy Burnham's decisive victory last week in the Makerfield by-election, outside 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, 22 June 2026 (Jack Taylor/Reuters) Off As a candidate for the leadership of his party, Keir Starmer ’s pitch to Labour voters was this: keep most of Jeremy Corbyn ’s policies but present them with a suit on and a tie done up. The people behind his campaign to replace Corbyn, which began months before the 2019 election in which the veteran left-winger was dispatched by Boris Johnson, saw Starmer as the best person to deliver this message. With the backing of Morgan McSweeney, Peter Mandelson, Roger Liddle and other figures on the right wing of the Labour Party, Starmer became leader.