If the current cohort of Labour MPs have not realised that the current leader of their party is leading them to political oblivion, you have less foresight than an ostrich with its head in the sand. Starmer’s close advisors, such as McSweeney, Ingham, and Driver, are politically inept but seem to have the ability to feed Keir bullshit dressed up as a political strategy. McSweeney has been credited with Starmer’s leadership victory for creating a Corbyn-lite approach, followed by a Labour Party victory in 2024 through a Blair-lite approach, and then for developing a political strategy that was light on vision and public policy. Members of the Labour Party have described Morgan as a marmite figure. I think what they are actually saying is that he could be described using another adjective which ends in “ite”
In China, Starmer looked like a sad man walking, and the crawling deference he has shown Trump is not exactly paying off. He and his cabinet colleagues have on 14 occasions rolled back policies from the winter fuel allowance, two-child cap, and business rates. He has failed to lay out a vision for the electorate in what is clearly the end of the old-world order, which favoured Western nations. Mark Carney expressed at Davos, what is needed is that” Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.” Keir has failed to explain how he is going to navigate this new landscape. He needs to explain to the electorate the urgent need to build the UK’s armed forces by creating a credible manufacturing infrastructure in partnership with Europe. He must explain how it will be funded and be honest about the cost to the taxpayer. The problem is that he is not good at engaging with the electorate, which can be seen with a favourable rating of minus 50%.
What is clear is that the UK is a declining power with its share of global GDP falling from over 5% in 2004 to 3.2 % in 2023, with some predicting it falling to under 2.5% by 2030. So much for growth. The delegation to China included 12 museums and cultural organisations, bankers, consultants, lawyers, a couple of mayors, Table Tennis England, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, two major pharmaceutical companies, McLaren, and, to take the bad look of it, Jaguar Land Rover, a genuine manufacturer. Keir looks at the tech bros with starry eyes just like Sunak. The recent announcement by US tech companies of a $150 billion investment that will create thousands of new jobs, but nothing is said about the impact of AI on the future of work and social cohesion.
Keir refuses to make a case to rejoin the EU customs union or the single market, and guess who is advising him to take that position. Brexit has cost the UK £100 billion in lost GDP annually in addition to significantly lower investment and loss of 10’s of billions in tax revenue. He has failed, along with Rachael Leaves, to make a case to renationalise the water industry private monopoly, to increase the financial transactions tax from its current 0.5%, which currently generates £3.5 billion and to reorientate business rates to protect town centres, a case for equalising capital gains and income tax and the introduction of a wealth tax.
This is the man who appointed Mandelson as the UK Ambassador to the US, when we already had a suitable and respected candidate in place, Karen Price. When Keir, with advice from McSweeney, appointed Mandelson, even the dogs in the street knew he was dodgier than Machiavelli, and his relationship with Epstein showed a flawed character. Mandelson’s appointment as US Ambassador shows political ineptitude on a scale that is hard to get your head around. This has been exacerbated by recent revelations about Mandelson’s alleged corruption around the 2008 financial crash and cash gifts from Epstein, and I do not want to think about Mandelson’s underwear. The nail in the proverbial coffin for Starmer is that at PMQs, he admitted that he knew about Mandelson’s renewed friendship after Epstein’s conviction on child sex trafficking. Blaming Mandelson for and telling him lies is like a known kleptomaniac stealing your wallet; it doesn’t cut the mustard. In addition, Keir’s position on Gaza is at best questionable, unable to call out the genocide being perpetrated by Netanyahu’s Reich, for fear of being called an antisemite.
A clear bit of advice for Keir, it is better to jump than be pushed and take the spads with you. Finally, I like Keir. When I was an independent member on the Northern Ireland Policing Board in the early 2000’s, he was our Human Rights Advisor and guided the Board in how to embed Human Rights in the delivery of policing with the community and training of officers and the cultural change required to truly transform policing, and he did a good job. Time to go back to the job you were good at, Keir Starmer KC.
Suneil Sharma
5th February 2026
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