“He’s a nice guy, he’s just not very political… he can’t see the bear trap until he’s fallen into it and by then it’s too late”.
“He’s just not really in touch with how people around the country feel – he doesn’t really get it. How can he?”
Fast forward six months or so and here we are again, but this time, Labour MPs are lamenting the lack of political foresight from their leader Keir Starmer, and wondering increasingly loudly whether the project can survive the next five years.
Aides are also tearing their hair out over Starmer’s refusal or inability to let voters see who he really is. Again, we’ve heard this one before. In the dying days of the Sunak administration, his closest team begged him to just be himself. “If only people could see the real Rish, they would know he was driven by all the right things,” aides used to tell journalists – before another interview in which Sunak would dash their hopes of ever being able to show the man behind the expensive suits.
But that doesn’t mean the risk for the new government isn’t high, especially after another week of turmoil which has left vast swathes of Labour MPs wondering how exactly they can defend the decision not to compensate Waspi women, despite senior Labour figures having previously pledged to support them, as they all head home for Christmas.
There are now reports that up to 100 MPs could back an opposition vote against the government’s decision on the Waspi women, to put pressure on minister to change their minds. In reality this would mean little – any vote would not be binding. But numbers like this show even with a hefty majority if Labour MPs feel strongly enough, they could make his life difficult, both in the chamber and crucially in the press.
This is a significant risk that Starmer seems unable to recognise. His MPs, many new and having never faced this level of public scrutiny, have already burned through political capital in their constituencies over removing the universal Winter Fuel Payment. Lots found defending this policy incredibly tough and felt hung out to dry by a Number 10 operation which provided little context or cover for the furious reaction they faced in their constituencies.
Me Too is dead. This is the era of I believe ‘him’
Read MoreLabour swept into government on a promise of change, but it was more than that. It was also a promise not to be the Tories, who the party holds responsible for all the very worst things that happened to the country over the last 14 years.
But logic isn’t enough to govern well. It takes heart as well as head to keep a party on track and a country united and some MPs fear having pragmatists like Rachel Reeves and Starmer in high office is a recipe for grassroots disaster.
Kate McCann is political editor at Times Radio.
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