Starmer won’t recover from the toxic Mandelson scandal
Think back to the election campaign of 2024 and you’ll recall that Sir Keir Starmer’s pitch for power wasn’t based on very much. His offer to the electorate was built almost entirely on the well-worn ‘time for change’ argument that opposition politicians across the world cling to when the incumbent has clearly run out of road.
The disintegration of the Conservatives after 14 years and five Prime Ministers gifted Starmer’s Labour the opportunity to restore some much needed competence to the running of the country. “A politics that treads a little lighter on people’s lives” was a compelling proposition after the drama and in-fighting that characterised the dying days of Tory rule.
The problem, of course, was that “we’ll be better than the last lot” was never going to be enough, not in a world as uncertain as ours or with an economy running on fumes and an electorate frustrated and anxious across multiple fronts.
Some people knew at the time that Labour’s offer was dangerously thin. I remember speaking to one potential Labour donor, keen to help them over the line, who kept his wallet closed after a meeting with Starmer’s top team. He’d tried to get a sense of what they wanted to do in government but left the room none the wiser.
Economic growth was talked about but never understood, while uncomfortable debates about welfare reform or public spending were sacrificed in favour of party unity.
Competence and probity have left the building
And so Starmer entered Downing Street backed by a massive majority but armed with little more than a belief in rules, process, and probity – and a belief that such virtues would be the wind in the sails of the ship of state.
As we approach the two year anniversary of this government it’s clear that competence and probity have long since left the building. The Peter Mandelson scandal will take its place alongside MPs’ expenses and Boris Johnson’s apparent attitude to Covid rules as something that lodges in voters’ minds.
Starmer has apologised, again and again, for his poor judgment in appointing Mandelson as ambassador, but he has always attempted to fall back on the comfort blanket of process. It was, he insists, the process that let him down. We know now the process was at best shambolic and at worst nefarious. It has eroded Starmer’s moral authority and now it has claimed his credibility as well.
He is unlikely to recover either.