As Keir Starmer-led Labour Government completes its hundred days in office, Sue Gray, the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister’s Office has been made to resign from her post. Gray was widely blamed for a disastrous start of the Labour government, which has seen Starmer’s approval ratings going down amidst criticism of the Prime Minister (and his Cabinet Ministers) receiving thousands of pounds worth of clothing and free tickets to concerts and football matches.[i] Besides, Starmer has also reorganised his inner circle and has appointed Morgan McSweeney, the mastermind of Labour’s victory on July 04 as the new Chief of Staff in a bid to improve the functioning of his administration and deliver on election promises such as planned spending cuts. The developments clearly hint at the realisation in the Government that the Prime Minister’s Office has not been able to capitalise on the massive victory his party secured in the national elections and that more needs to be done on the governance front.
Starmer’s administration was off to a rocky start when his Government took certain decisions in the very first month of his office which were unpopular and contrary to his promise of “restoring service and respect of politics”. One of the earliest decisions of the Government, which proved to be unpopular and also prompted some protests, was a cut down on winter fuel payments to around 10 million pensioners in England and Wales, a move aimed to strengthen the National Health Service.[ii] Additionally, the decision to release 1700 prisoners before the completion of their sentence, as part of the government’s early release programme to free up overcrowded prisons, the issue of extravagant payment to Sue Gray for her service as the Chief of Staff, and promised spending cuts to the tune of approximately $8 billion for the next financial year did not go well with the public and party members and brought significant ire against the Prime Minister.
Starmer is not just struggling against public opposition to his policy choices and the performance of his aides like Gray, but he also had to contend against rebellion by some Members of the Parliament (MPs) belonging to the Labour Party. Barely a month after taking over 10 Downing Street, he suspended ten MPs for opposing the ‘two-child benefit cap’.[iii] The policy has been a thorny subject in the internal debates in the Labour Party, and Starmer has been resisting pressure to abolish the policy, which has been in existence since 2017. The ‘two-child benefit cap’ basically limits the state benefits to parents in the form of Universal Credit, which helps cover the cost of raising children, to two children per family and thus has been a controversial issue in British politics.
There was similar discontent on the issue of fuel subsidies to pensioners, when a total of 52 MPs from the Labour Party decided not to vote on the motion cutting down the winter fuel allowance.[iv] Rosie Duffield, Member of Parliament from Canterbury, took a step further and resigned from her membership of the Parliament citing the “cruel and unnecessary” policies of the Prime Minister and for bringing a “managerial and technocratic approach” to politics.[v] She was particularly critical of the decisions of many Labour leaders, including the PM himself, to accept gifts, dubbed as freebie-gate, from a donor of the party. Thus, since the beginning, Starmer has struggled to implement tough decisions like spending cuts that he considers necessary for reviving the British economy. As further cuts and tax rises are expected in the upcoming budget, the discord is only expected to grow.
The tensions inside the government were clearly felt during the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, which took place in the last week of September. Even after securing a massive electoral victory and returning to power after 15 years, the congregation lacked a celebratory mood.[vi] The so-called freebie gate, spending cuts, and proposed tax hikes had overshadowed the joyous occasion. Starmer’s promise of an optimistic future, after he had taken all the tough, unpopular but necessary decisions, has not marked any visible change in the people’s perception as barely a hundred days in the government his approval ratings have dwindled down to a significant level.
On the foreign policy front, Keir Starmer’s challenges lie in reclaiming lost ground, and the PM has been keen on a trade rapprochement with the EU and playing a more proactive role on a global level as evident from his heightened engagements with the leaders of the United States and Europe. Reset of the EU–UK relations is particularly important for his foreign policy agenda. In his meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, Starmer said that his Government will be focusing on tweaking the relationship in a range of areas without renegotiating the Brexit deal.[vii] However, this is easier said than done, and this is something that Starmer also realises when he said that “there will be issues which are difficult to resolve and on areas on which we will stand firm” while addressing a press conference.[viii] The EU may share his views on security situation on the European continent, but it is highly unlikely that the two sides would share the same dais on the questions of trade flows, free movement, and access to fishing waters.
Overall, the Labour Government has not been able to maintain the victory momentum and has been on the backfoot on some of its policy, both inside and outside the party. Starmer has struggled to convince his electorate and his party members of the need to take harsh and unpopular decisions to bring the British economy on track. However, the PM still has most of his tenure left and because of the thumping majority that he secured for his party his government is politically stable and numerically strong to take and implement those decisions despite some opposition. Keir Starmer is holding his ground and has so far declined to change his policy decisions amidst growing criticism and the appointment of McSweeney is clearly aimed at facilitating a smooth functioning of the Government without compromising on the fundamental ideas of the Prime Minister.
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*Aman Kumar, Research Associate, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[i] Tim Ross. “How Sue Gray blew up Downing Street inside 100 days”, Politico, 07 October, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/sue-gray-downing-street-100-days-election-victory-keir-starmer-british/ (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[ii] Daniel Martin. “Starmer: I had to cut winter fuel allowance to help save NHS”, The Telegraph, 13 September 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/13/starmer-i-had-to-cut-winter-fuel-allowance-to-save-the-nhs/ (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[iii] BBC. “Why is there fresh controversy over the two-child benefit cap?”, BBC, 11 July 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87rp0xr3ydo (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[iv] https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/10/critics-of-winter-fuel-payment-cut-to-fight-on-after-government-wins-vote
[v] Peter Walker and Pippa Crera. “Critics of winter fuel payment cut to fight on after government wins vote”, The Guardian, 10 September 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/28/rosie-duffield-resigns-as-labour-mp-with-scathing-attack-on-keir-starmers-leadership (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[vi] Elizabeth Piper, Andrew Macaskill and Allister Smout. “UK Labour Party’s first conference in power lacks celebration”, Reuters, 23 September 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-labour-party-struggles-first-conference-power-2024-09-23/ (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[vii] Philip Blenkinsop and Alistair Smout. “UK PM Starmer visits Brussels for first talks on EU reset”, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/uk-pm-starmer-heads-brussels-first-conversation-eu-reset-2024-10-01/ (Accessed 08 October 2024)
[viii] Ibid