Keir Starmer 'foolish' to jump on 'issue bandwagon' says expert

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The Labour leader could face opposition within his own party as a “general unease” about his direction grows, Express.co.uk was told. It comes as members voiced outrage at a “stitch-up” over Labour’s Hartlepool by-election timetable. Candidates wanting to stand in the ballot were given just one day to apply after MP Mike Hill resigned ahead of his employment tribunal later this year into claims of “sexual harassment and victimisation”, allegations which he denies.

Many fear that someone steeped in politics, rather than a local candidate familiar with the area and its people, will be placed to claim the seat.

A leaked email from the Hartlepool constituency Labour Party secretary showed that Dr Paul Williams, a former Stockton South MP and local GP, is a preferred candidate, admitting the move would anger “the left” and potentially lead to accusations of a Sir Keir stitch-up, according to Politics Home.

It is pitting up to be one of his most crucial tasks to date.

Steven Fielding, Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham, told Express.co.uk that there is already a considerable number of MPs who fear Sir Keir’s handling of the party may be misinformed.

He said there were around “20 to 25 percent” of party members, along with the Socialist Campaign Group, who will “always attack Starmer”.

Vitally, however, are the undecided who make up the bulk of the party, and who are by and large increasingly sceptical of Sir Keir and his strategy, especially that aimed at working-class voters, the expert claimed.

Professor Fielding said: “There’s a more general unease among people outside of that core hostile group that are a bit concerned about the direction of his leadership.

“Since he’s become leader he’s focused unremittingly on trying to demonstrate and communicate in different ways, shapes, or forms that the party has changed.

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“And this is aimed at those Red Wall voters Labour lost in 2019 – now, you never see him without the flag; he’s talked about in various speeches family, community, security, patriotism – this last one is really what gets some members.

“People like Clive Lewis say that if you start waving a flag like that in order to get votes from Red Wall voters, you’re almost implying that it’s racist.

“If you don’t say, ‘Well I’m patriotic – but there’s lots of things wrong with being British, the British Empire wasn’t this great thing’, if you don’t critique being British while at the same time saying you’re patriotic, then they’ve got problems with it.

“When people see Starmer saying these patriotic things to Red Wall voters, they think, ‘Hang on a minute, that’s not what we want, that’s not what we stand for’.

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“And so it’s part of a sense of unease that some people have had about Starmer and the direction he’s taking the party, they view him as a sort of Trojan Horse.”

The party faced a crisis earlier this year after a leaked memo that showed how it planned to win back disillusioned voters.

It came from an internal strategy presentation commissioned by the party that stated Labour must make “use of the [union] flag, veterans [and] dressing smartly”.

The Guardian, who saw the report, noted that it proved Labour was playing “identity politics”, with others arguing it exposes a veneer of naivety from the party about its traditional voter base.

A party spokesperson said the wording came from the brand agency Republic’s language rather than the Labour Party.

Since becoming leader, Sir Keir has made clear that Labour is “under new management”.

He has moved to make the outfit the “patriotic party”: proud of being British but at the same time committed to its liberal and internationalist values.

It is a clear break from former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who largely isolated working class voters, which led to the fall of the Red Wall in 2019 to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The move away from Mr Corbyn is so obvious that many have questioned how authentic Sir Keir’s intentions are.

In a November BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs appearance, he said one of his favourite songs was ‘Three Lions’ by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds, a track associated with football and working class culture.

Paul Embery, a leading trade unionist and Labour member argues that there is “no route back to power for Labour that does not pass through those Red Wall seats”.

However, when asked by Express.co.uk whether Sir Keir’s newfound patriotism was authentic, he said: “I don’t know, I can’t make a window into the man’s soul – but certainly in terms of what he’s saying around the issue of patriotism I think it’s the right thing to say.

“I don’t necessarily think he’s entirely constable with it because let’s not forget he’s a North London liberal lawyer; he’s almost like a bit of a reincarnation of Tony Blair.

“But I think he’s clever enough to know that Labour has been perceived by millions of working class voters as unpatriotic and a party that looks down on its own country.”

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