19th May 2024
Starmer drama but where is the plot?
Much of the presentation of political debate in Britain, by political parties and the news media, is couched as theatre. Clashes at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons are regularly reported in dramatic terms. Head to head television debates at election times pit candidates against one another with billings worthy of heavyweight boxing title fights. Personalities, rather than policies become the stuff of tabloid headlines as the popularity of TV soap opera is translated into political drama.
Presentation has become as important as content for those seeking the keys to 10, Downing St. With a General Election just months away the respective teams of Kier Starmer and Rishi Sunak are developing their communications plans and public relations strategies with a vengeance, in the hope of getting their man more media time, more positive coverage and more votes when it comes to the crunch of an actual election.
This week’s set piece from Kier Starmer was the presentation of Labour’s six point plan, an event which could not have been more theatrical. With a team of Shadow Cabinet colleagues behind him and an audience in front Starmer, in rolled up shirt sleeves, no jacket or tie, was presenting as a man who just wanted to get on with the job and get things done. TV cameras and news media were there of course to capture the key moments and translate them into the headlines such dramatic presentation was deemed to warrant.
The six points were emblazoned above Starmer,
- Crackdown on anti-social behaviour
- Launch a new Border Security Command
- Deliver economic stability
- Set up Great British Energy
- Cut NHS waiting times
- Recruit 6,500 new teachers
All very rehearsed and choreographed, no doubt tested through focus groups and with a certain type of Labour activist, but does this list represent the concerns of working class communities, where parents may be working two jobs to pay the bills, where the cost of childcare may mean the difference between taking a job or not, where Carer’s Allowance is being clawed back if earnings creep a penny over the princely sum of £151 per week?
Apparently, Kier Starmer does not mind being compared to former Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, because Blair was a three times General Election winner, and who would not want that comparison? Which gives away Starmer’s philosophy entirely. Winning elections only matters if changes are made as a result of election victories, the winning in itself is unimportant otherwise.
Blair’s three election victories did not result in reversing the anti trade union laws of the Thatcher years. They did not abolish the right to buy which has seen the run down of Council housing stock and the decline of affordable homes. They did not reverse the privatisation of water and energy companies and prevent private shareholders from reaping vast dividend payouts while bills soared. They did not reverse the break up of the comprehensive education system, abolish university fees or impose greater regulation upon the City of London, to prevent the gambling, greed and speculation which led to the 2008 financial crash.
The Blair/Brown years of Labour government did not see a reversal of the damage done by the Thatcher/Major Tory governments but a consolidation of the errors, an acceptance of neoliberal economics and the cult of the individual as being of key importance, rather than the collective wellbeing of the community.
There is nothing in the six points outlined by Starmer that Rishi Sunak would not sign up to or disagree with. There is nothing which suggests a challenge to the status quo or any shift in the balance of power from the entitled few to the downtrodden many. Starmer describes the plan as Labour’s first steps on a mission towards change but after 15 years of Tory imposed austerity working class communities are crying out for giant strides not baby steps.
Is it possible to be a mere shadow of something which does not have substance? If so, Starmer fits the bill as being a mere shadow of Tony Blair who, in spite of his election victories, did nothing to improve the lives of working class communities. Starmer is set on the same course, in danger of taking working class votes for granted, an election victory for granted and hoping that a programme which does nothing to scare the King’s horses will be enough to get him there.
It is said that history may at first play out as tragedy but repeats itself as farce. The Blair/Brown Labour governments tragically let down the working class, keeping capitalism safe for the ruling class and the return of the Tories in 2010. While voting Labour at the General Election will be necessary, after so many years of Tory austerity, we must resist the danger of a Keir Starmer government keeping the seats at the Cabinet table warm for the return of the Tories in five years time.
Mass extra Parliamentary action to compel a Labour government to act in the interests of the working class and to develop a manifesto for real change is vital in the run up to the General Election and beyond. Without it we will have a Tory-lite, Blair-lite episode from Labour and it may matter little who wins an election in five years time.
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