Keir Starmer: Powell grilled on 'exciting' aspects of Labour leader
Keir Starmer’s authority received a major knock yesterday after it was claimed his closest advisor described him as an “HR manager, not a leader”.
A new tell-all book about Keir Starmer’s time as leader of the opposition is set to reveal that the PM’s closest aides, advisors and confidants spent years condemning his lack of leadership skills.
In a huge blow to the Prime Minister, his own Downing Street Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney is claimed to have blasted his boss for acting “like an HR manager, not a leader”.
Mr McSweeney, Sir Keir’s right-hand man of many years, is also said to have confided in friends “that he knew neither what Starmer thought, nor whose advice he had taken”.
Another close advisor brutally quipped: “[Keir Starmer] thinks he’s driving the train, but we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR”, a reference to the driverless Docklands Light Railway in East London.
READ MORE: Labour civil war as Diane Abbott launches scathing attack on Keir Starmer
Even Sir Tony Blair is reported as telling a friend in 2021: “He’s basically a London human rights lawyer who’s not in touch with the people. He’s perceived as an over-smoothed lawyer-like person.”
The three-time election winner even suggested Keir Starmer lacks political views, observing: “It’s possible that his journey isn’t like Neil Kinnock’s, where you start on the left and then you move towards the centre. I don’t think he really started anywhere except vaguely progressive.”
The litany of condemnation is particularly damaging for the Prime Minister, with many inside the Labour Party still harbouring the same concerns about his lack of vision and drive.
The book by journalists Patrick Maguire and Gabrial Pogrund, entitled Get In, also reveals the huge rift sparked between the Prime Minister and his deputy Angela Rayner after Sir Keir sacked her as Labour’s campaign chief following the disastrous Hartlepool by-election.
For the first time, it’s revealed Ms Rayner was on the verge of launching an all-out coup against Keir Starmer over the public humiliation, only stepping back from the brink after the Labour leader’s office backed down and gave her a number of new job titles as a concession prize.
One of Ms Rayner’s closest confidants said the deputy was absolutely on the verge of ousting Keir Starmer in 2021, warning: “We could have taken him out there and then, without a shadow of a doubt”.
“All of the unions were on board. We had Unite. We had the money. Momentum were lined up. We were done. We had a rally of 5,000 people ready to go.”
The Deputy Prime Minister later texted one friend that Sir Keir was “incapable of running a bath - never mind the opposition”.
A former Labour MP has now told the Daily Express that the criticisms levelled at Sir Keir by those quoted in the book are “absolutely spot on”, adding it underlines just how precarious the Prime Minister’s position really is.
While Keir Starmer wanted to become Labour leader for years under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the book claims he was too disinterested in the campaign to chair his own leadership team meetings.
He comes under fire for failing to articulate a political vision, instead being more interested in the “tedious bureaucratic process” of trade union rules, election rules and financial reporting.
The scenes, played out at the family home of close ally Baroness Chapman, also saw Sir Keir so reluctant to explain his father’s job as a toolmaker that MP Nick Smith blasted: “Most people don’t know what a lathe is, Keir, so you’re going to have to explain!”
This morning, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper Insisted the Prime Minister has a “real determination to change the country”, as questions once again began to circle about the PM’s ability to do the job.
She told Laura Kuenssberg: “I think what you see in Keir Starmer is a real determination to change the country, it’s why he’s set out the plan for change with clear action, clear things that he’s determined to change for the country.”
“What I think he stands for most is actually respect and hard work, and making the country work for working people.”
However a senior Conservative source told the Daily Express that the revelations confirm the attack line Kemi Badenoch has been advancing at recent Prime Minister’s Questions.
They warned: “As Prime Minister, Keir Starmer has consistently misjudged the public mood, prioritising the dull, unambitious solution over what’s really needed”.
“Not all political attacks stick, but even his own Chief of Staff agrees with Kemi that Starmer is a lawyer, not a leader.”
The book has also sparked claims the Labour leader may have breached Covid lockdown rules in 2020 when a hired voice coach visited the party’s headquarters on Christmas Eve for a training session, despite rules stating non-essential workers should work from home.
A Downing Street source insisted “a bunch of anonymous briefings” should not be taken seriously.