What is Starmerism? | The New Statesman podcast
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- Keir Starmer is the man poised to be the next leader of the UK. But what does the Labour leader stand for?
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Four years after Starmer became leader of the Labour party we know a little more about him. We’ve heard about his childhood, the pebble-dashed semi and his time at the Crown Prosecution Service.
But what are the principles behind the man and his project ? What do we really know about ‘Starmerism’?
Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, is joined by George Eaton, senior editor, who has written last week's cover story.
Read it here: www.newstatesman.com/cover-st...
Illustration by Nate Kitch
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Starmerism is an empty hollow vessel
I'm a left winger but I'm also a pragmatist. Politics is a game and an ugly one at that and I think Starmer is the piece or character in this game that we need at this critical moment. I do worry that the left is going to make the same mistake and tear itself apart. Give this man time and we will judge him on his actions in office. He isn't perfect but there hasn't been a politician in the history of democracy that has.
Tell it how it is Spongebob
Same as you, my instincts are left wing, but without power what are they worth? After 14 years of greed, corruption and incompetence, I'm just relieved that we may finally have a Labour Government that puts the common good top of their agenda and sound like they will be competent in doing so.
It would surely help their cause if they could come up with a couple of pithy phrases to help people understand what their aims are. If you take the time to look, the policies are there yet we hear the constant whine that people don't know what Labour stand for and they could do with summarising that for the masses a la "get Brexit done" (yes, I hated that too but it got the message over).
Starmer has torn the Labour apart. No one else. He is a real piece of work. I have supported Labour since Wilson. I'm not supporting this charlatan.
@@robc7162it won't be a Labour government. What does he have to do to.make you finally see who he is?
In 4 years you be wishing to get rid of kier. Follow the sheep and see where that gets you.
It used to be that the Labour Party wanted to get rid of class not "make us all middle class".
I escaped Thatcher's UK in 1986 and never came back. I'm Brexit French now 😂🎉 🇨🇵🇪🇺.
The Labour party was and should be again. The voice for the things that affect the daily lives of every day people. Whats happening is a party that is going pale blue. Work has to be safe to do. It has to have pay that cover a decent quality of life. By that I mean. Being able to buy food. (Nurses going to food banks is unacceptable) Having a roof over your head that allows you to feel safe and you wont be evicted from through no fault of yours. Being as ble to heat your home , have hot water. Maybe go for a meal or the cinema. Being able to live and work not exist and work.
Their new deal for workers policy is just that.
@@robc7162Labour rarely mention the unemployed as if we don't exist
Well said
I think its important to note that Micheal Sandels philosophy is never directly referenced by Starmer, he adopts similar language which could be argued to be equivalent to adopting the themes of Sandel, but that runs the risk imposing an asumption.
Also, can we do away with "Starmerism" "Communitarianism" and just generally making things into an Ism, "Starmerism" makes for a good soundbite, but its psuedo intellectual simplification that makes a concept more abstract than it actually is. "Starmerism" = the values or positions of Starmer and his party, so calling it that gives a better indication of what you mean, position vs value, him or the Labour party.
"Communitarian" feels much the same way, abstract for no reason.
Ive been outside of the UK for 10 years, i only really know about Starmer by how commentators (left and right) talk about him, and they broadly do him a disservice. I hold my hands up and admit i prejudged him as i thought he was just another career politician, but listening to this it seems he has lived a full life before entering the frame which i am a strong advocate for everyone doing (i don’t think career politics should be a thing). So by default he gets my full backing.
So the work experience kid talks a load of nonsense trying to make out Starmer is not just a wooden puppet and you lap it up?
Blimey George Eaton, talk about being the inspiration for the Easter Island Statues! That's a face made for radio if ever there was one!
Starmer getting advice from Mandelsohn is a huge mistake.
He's no Beathoven.
The project will fail because you can't grow your way out of the mess we're in without state spending. So after an anemic and short lived period in power Johnson will be back with a vengeance. The fault will lie squarely with the 'pragmatists' for their lack of ambition.
What does Keir Starmer stand for? Great question as no one is clear at all on this.
He just another left wing puppet. A opportunistic guy who changes his mind and does and say anything to win
There’s a writer who goes by the moniker “j sorel”. He wrote a piece at the Daily Sceptic called “Keir Starmer’s Coming Revolution is More Radical Than His Opponents Realise”. Even if you don’t agree with the writer’s political preferences, I think it’s a good analysis of Starmer’s world view and the likely policies he will implement.
@@georgesdelatour 👍🏽
@@georgesdelatour you're ignoring the fact that it could be utter bollocks
Good to see the Habsburg dynasty getting some air time.
Labour really have to get off the fence and tell us what we might be voting for. They cannot just keep quiet in fear of making a mistake.
The amount of eye contact from George is astounding
I'm autistic, it would make be burst into flames.
UK politicians believe in themselves and also power. Nothing more nothing less.
Really helpful summery of the content of Starmer's thinking and how that gels with his shadow cabinet. It can be frustrating how cagy he is due to a pragmatic gole of getting elected, it can leave a seeming content vacuum.
Agree he wants to win .
Great job thumbnail maker, lmao
The Labour Party is a centrist party Now, starmer is that incarnate.
Very well broken down and analysed 👍🏼
Nice article, I was never sure what Starmer was about but this gave me an insight. Will be interesting to see when/if he gets into power how he will deal with the right wing as seen in America and in Germany.
This is fascinating, because the focus seems to be almost entirely on what Starmer believes rather than what Starmer intends to do. We're told about this man with all these noble principles, and yet in the same breath we're told he won't act on any of them in the name of "pragmatism". Newsflash: if you believe in something then you think it is the best policy to adopt; abandoning that is not "pragmatic", it simply means you never really believed in it in the first place. One has to wonder if Starmer is so interested in virtue over policy then why didn't he become a clergyman instead of a Parliamentarian?
It's because he doesn't appear to believe in anything except for his entitlement to number 10.
We can’t judge him on his actions because he’s not been in government. All we’d have to go on there would be how he addressed the conflict within the Labour Party, which was essentially to lock out the left of the party, so not especially inspiring.
We then have to look to his words and his purported beliefs/values, but with his characteristic flip-flopping and reneging that presents a more dire picture.
People are quite understandably unsettled.
What are the chances we can get through a conversation about Starmer without mentioning that he likes football?
He does though.
@@okokokjack So did Michael Howard, so I think the football thing is pretty much a wash
Flogging blogs is where the world has got to but 'personality politics', though it gives you twenty minutes of free material, is the last thing we want after the utter shambles of recent years.
Starmer has a lot of hopes riding on him to stop the decline of the nation, which has been almost by design been happening ever since the Condems era through wilful neglect or deliberate policies to make the average brit poorer
Cringe client journalism from the New Statesman.
Good analysis. thanks
He is a politician, nothing more, nothing less .
Robin Cook and David Lammy in the very same sentence…
Starmer is a politician!
He can’t explain why Brexit was a problem while still being in the opposition!
When he is elected he will change his tune and will then promote
closer relations with the EU!
Where's Anoosh? Has she gone to visit Sangita Myska?
Power for power’s sake. The heir to Cameron
I used to have hope for Starmer. But accepting Natalie Elphicke to the party makes me realised he is not that decent of a person. Starmer is playing ugly politics for short term gain bit hurts the party.
I disagree. She’s not standing next GE, so she’s not a threat, IMO. With that in mind, it’s good PR for Starmer to make a big hurrah about accepting her with open arms.
@@ethroptur5266 not sure if it's good PR, it's like child protection group welcome Prince Andrew as a senior advisor...
Sir Keir believes exactly what you believe. And if you suddenly change your mind he still believes as you. Sir Keir is your alter ego, a true leader who has your best interest at heart. Believe in Sir Keir and your worries will disappear.
Wow, if only this was the case. What is he a Demi god?
The references to the dignity of work are very Biden-esque.
Biden and Starmer are in some sense quite similar: pragmatic center-left politicians from a working class background that seeks to chart out a path distinct from both the old neoliberal order and the progressive movement.
No seriously no
I can see the similarities now you mention it
I'm laughing at the notion that Biden and starmer are center left.
They're centre right
@@michaelcoward1902 I'll concentrate on Biden because I know him better. When he won in 2020, he basically campaigned on the following:
1. A return to the political status quo pre-Trump and consensus building (centrist)
2. Increased state investments post-covid focusing on the green transition (left-leaning)
3. Increased welfare programs (left-leaning)
4. "US-liberal" advancements in for example criminal justice reform, immigration and gun policy (may or may not be considered left-leaning).
Summing all of this up, I'd label it centre left.
In office, he has adapted to Congress and bad approval ratings. On point 1, he has not gone further right. On point 2, he did exactly what he said he would do. On point 3, he tried and mostly failed in congress (with some exceptions in the original American Rescue Plan like the temporary tax credit and higher minimum wage for federal workers, as well as $160B and counting in student debt relief). On point 4, he tried to get bipartisan compromises, mostly failed (apart from a small gun law and protecting same-sex marriage), and then pivoted to the centre. In addition, we can add foreign policy, where he's governed as a centrist (Ukraine) and centre right-recently-turned-centre left (I/P). So his term as president has been defined by a mix of centrist and left-leaning policies. A centre left label seems fair to me.
Of course, if you define left/right simply as socialist/capitalist in absolute terms, I'd agree that he's centre right. But it seems lees useful to "calibrate" the scale in that way, as it would place almost all policitans and voters on the same side.
Oh get over yourself.
Appreciate Eaton's analysis here but starting every answer with 'YEH! Soooo ...' very quickly becomes jarring to listen to.
Winning elections, at essentially any cost. Next question?
You wanna change the world you need to win elections.
Does he make good decisions? Did he see what the consequences of coming late to the table on the Gaza question. Has he understood the damage to the party in the forthcoming election if giving the Whip and almost certainly promising Ms Elphick the opportunity to stand for Labour in the GE when it comes. I welcomed his being made the leader but I confess I worry about some of his decisions.
You are putting ideas on Starmer and over interpreting. Starmer is not saying what Sandel thinks. Rather that intuition, you are attributing ideas he does not have clearly.
So after all that we still don’t know
Starmer should have gone down a Blue Labour route rather than a Blairite route!
Excellent comment totally agree
@@theodoremcalindon I think it would have resonated with Labour voters a lot more!
Power for its own sake.
The Tories that joined Starmer have not changed their political stance.
Yet, 'Labour has changed'.
To accommodate the Right , not The Left.
How to talk for half an hour about bugger all is exemplified by this pair in this video, replete with Corbyn jibes. Client journalism for Starmer. Insufficiently challenging waffle, bereft of evidence and data, full of their slants.
And they opine on why he public distrust politics and politicians!
I didn’t understand very much of this…also apparently Harry Potter became a journalist.
What flattery to call it Starmer-ism. There is no Starnerism, only Starmer. There is no detectable principle. It is just Mandelsonism. Blairism without the spark.
Starmer is both boring & interesting. Am I wrong to think he doesn't have a messiah complex like Blair's? Would it be fair to say he's a mix of Atlee's idealism & Wilson's tact? Please advise!
Whatever Starmerism is, take it away, I don't want it.
Now that Elphicke has joined Starmer it's clear he doesn't stand for anything.
He wants power for its own sake
Of course he wants power, he has none at the moment and can't do anything after a lifetime of achievement in Law.
@CodeCancerLab ok Labour gain power what changes are you expecting from them?
@@keithparker1346 in a first term not much - in a second term could be quite transformative culturally.
@@dreamcrusher112 so nothing then
What does Starma stand for. That’s simple……. HIM SELF
I have a funny feeling he will surprise us all.
2:14 the dignity of work is straight out of joe biden’s playbook
I'm on the Left. There is no point in me and others being purist. Starmer's future Government will be very distinctly different to Blairism and more Progressive. I very much like the Practical strain within, things we can Actually Do rather than Dreams.
Why are you seemingly to recognise a need for a drop.in immigration rather than challenging that. We know we need a population boost as people aren't having enough kids. Or is Starmer going to incentivise people to gave bigger families in some way?
Labour support the 2 child benefit cap they want people to have less kids and to be more reliant on imported labour
Giggity
when tories feel right at home in your party, you are no longer a left wing party. they havent been for a long time, but still stands.
When he accepts Natalie Elphicke I feel like throwing up.
Sickening.
It’s already been stated that Elphickle won’t be standing for Dover and the existing Labour candidate will remain there. She’s also been offered nothing.
She has zero power and she’s essentially been gamed to speak out against the Tory’s and all for the price of nothing. She’s not going to be on the benches in a few months
Answer: winning elections
And after that? What then?
@@DonxKarleone If he doesn't win, that doesn't matter. It's an inherent flaw in democracy - what it takes to win election doesn't in any way correlate to what is needed to be an effective government once you've won.
In short you have no idea @@chrispalmer7893
Yep, still non the wiser re Starmer... my only certainty is that I don't like his Gaza stance 😒
"A ceasefire that lasts. This is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now." - yes, a very controversial stance, how dare he.
Simply put he’s all about winning, the days of politics of protest without power are over.
Yeah, winning elections with no ethics has led this country down such a great path so far hasn't it? What's the point of winning if you're beholden to the same corporate interests of your supposed political rival party?
I don't really care if he wins or not. I want to know what he's going to do for me. I couldnt give two shits about his personal ambition.
Pointless winning if you're not going to change anything
@@keithparker1346 but to change things you have to win.
@@DC.409 what are you expecting Labour to change?
These two are smoke blowers: insufficiently critical client journalists angling for cushy gigs over the next 4 years of a Labour government.
Starmer is a paid stooge for Mi5 😊
A really good and informative discussion - with exactly the right conclusion. Can Starmer deliver for people in this country. Personally I doubt it, but I'I'll gladly be proved wrong.
Can we call any person's politics an "-ism" if that person hasn't been in power?
Shush
@@Vtwin_Superbikes WTF does that mean (in this context)? (Edit: 🤣)
He's a Pabloist.
Hope labour wins .
?
Easy. Starmerism is a clone of Cameron & Osborne economics
I find Freddie incredibly attractive 😍❤
Kier Starmer has changed the Labour Party and will achieve a lot while in office, but he's kind of become "populist-lite" and so I'm voting for the party I always vote for - Lib Dem 🔶️
Politic is done. You just don't get it yet. People have had enough of lies. All parties are the same just slightly different flavours.
The middle class have become increasingly Labour. Parts of the working class have shifted to the right. If Starmer does actually boost trade union power/ workers rights etc... It would be interesting to see how parts of the middle class react to that i.e. business owners, middle mangers etc... I think part of the reason the middle class have become quite comfortable with Labour is because Labour often do not threaten them like old Labour was perceived as doing. But a Labour govt that boosts the power of trade unions, increasing the likelihood of strikes etc... May find it begins to lose some middle class support overtime.
Ermine
Power without Purpose
this is quite embarrassing 10/15 mins in
What he stands for today will be different tomorrow.
Blue rinse Starmer .. .. Proper Tory Boy .
I couldn't vote for anyone with a name that rhymes with Llama.
What a load of waffle
Nothing...Won't vote for them.
He stands for the establishment, austerity, giving cover for genocide, crackdown on protests.
I’ll never vote Labour again.
What he is a Tory
I don’t care about Starmer’s personality. I actually like boring politicians. What I (and most normal people) *hate* is politicians who go back on their promises. Starmer has U-turned on the majority of important pledges that he made during his leadership. To me it’s straight up dishonest and he has lost my support. It’s a shame because if he’d only been consistent and honest, he could’ve been a leader that I was happy to support.
I'm not sure about stand. But i know what he kneels for. Not the UK.
Absolutely nothing.
Starmers Labour more interested in accepting right wingers than left wingers
He has turned Labour into UKIP which is why Elphicke has joined.
Hes a hypocrite
Keir stands for his Israeli handlers.
He’s a hypocrite
Simples starmer stands for nothing a complete waste of spacev
I'm commenting on this so that I can come back this time next year and point out what a load of total shite this analysis is. Barely an inch deep, massively naive about how right wing and neoliberal Starmer is, completely myopic towards Lammys awful record on foreign policy (an even racism!) utterly impressionistic view on class. Watching this back after the betrayals come thick and fast will be as satisfying as it will be depressing. In fact the New Deal for Working People has already become 'unrecognisable' according to unions.
Narcissistic. He is Right Wing
Would fit in Thatcher's cabinet.
How on earth can you call him right wing? He is an extremely centrist man with some minor left wing ideals. He is what the country needs after the Tories have been putting the country into continuous decline.
@@sfire8111Yeh, he’ll do the same as every Labour government, Spend to increase the feel good factor and tax raise poor sods who can be bothered to work…..!
He's proposing tax and spend fall to 40% GDP? Max was from 97-07. He's going to weaken "workers rights"? Reduce regulations generally?
"Anyone right of me is right wing" is neither true or winning thoughg process.
@@sfire8111 how is Labours continuation policy going to yelp our nation?
We need someone more charismatic at these times who can bring people together. He is dull as dishwater and so uninspiring. Someone like Andy Burnham would be far better
I'm not sure charisma is a good thing in politicians. It usually just helps distract from their ineptitude. Look at Boris Johnson. I think I'd prefer a country run by wonks and boring geeks.
@@andybrice2711just a shame that Labour are both boring AND clueless
This is embarrassing
Starmer is an opportunistic personality. Opportunistic can often be confused with being ruthless. He has lied and betrayed his way to become leader. If you vote him in to numbe 10 Downing Street you'll regret it
easy, the status quo. He's the other cheek of the same stinking arse.