Eyeing power, Britain’s Keir Starmer plots path to Downing Street
- Labour leader Keir Starmer is currently on track to become Britain’s next prime minister
- His party enjoys a double-digit lead in polls ahead of a general election expected next year
On June 7, a group of star-struck British lawmakers posted selfies with Kiss bassist Gene Simmons when the glam rocker visited parliament.
Hours later, those from the opposition Labour Party were summoned by senior members in charge of discipline and ordered to delete the posts and apologise.
In 2004, Simmons had been heavily criticised for calling Islam a “vile culture” and the Labour MPs were sent on their way with warnings about any posts or comments that strayed from Labour’s line ringing in their ears, two told Reuters.
Welcome to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
After Labour’s worst defeat for 84 years in 2019 under left-wing veteran Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer – a human rights lawyer who became Britain’s top prosecutor before turning to politics in his 50s – has instilled a culture of discipline in what was a deeply fractured party.
Taking lessons from centre-left parties in Australia and Germany, he has imbued Labour with a cautious and methodical approach in the race to be prime minister, hoping competence and pragmatism rather than any overriding ideology will be enough to oust the Conservatives, in power since 2010.