One of Gordon Brown’s most memorable remarks was that politicians had a shelf life of 7 years before the public grew weary and wanted something different. Seven years was the optimal, without evolution stagnation would creep in before it had succumbed, and your time was finished.
The Scot would have to wait another three years before he acclaimed the throne, but his summation seemed apt for how one should view a prime minister’s tenure ship. Now, though, the environment is completely different, the world has been taken over and engulfed by a desire for immediacy. For everything to be different everywhere at once.
It is a notion that you feel, the Labour government has struggled to fully embrace. The idolisation of the Blair government and everything it encompassed, purely as a political machine, is understandable when that is your only modern-day reference. But the reappointments of Peter Mandelson, Jonathan Powell and others who came before are misjudged – talented and intuitive operators they may be. Still, it only adds to the idea that the government lacks boldness, that it lacks braveness to break the mould and falling back on redundant premises that speak of an absent desire to put its own stamp on proceedings.
The re-appointments of Mandelson et al to the government align with the Starmer shtick that the ‘grown-ups are back in the charge’ – in reality, this is hollow twaddle, a mere projection to the centrist voters who became exasperated by the ludicrous state of the previous government. Yes, you got them back, but you will lose them again, their fickleness appeals to those who espouse a politics of utopic fantasies. The ‘sensible speak’ and Tory bashing cannot be the sole basis on which strategy is derived.
His tumultuous six months in office have been hallmarked by an inability to convey a blueprint explaining the decisions being taken. It has allowed for barrage after barrage of attacks. The image portrayed over the next few months will come to define his time in office, he must attempt to establish the party and its ideology – who is this the party for? Amidst all the hyperbole and right-wing angst, that has got lost since he came to power. Again, the ‘sensible speak’ won’t cut it anymore. The lust for our leaders to act with decency and accountability is not an outlandish notion, but an expected obligation for the position that you hold.
The desire to set out greater clarity was demonstrated this past week as Starmer outlined his plans to reform NHS waiting lists. The pledges included the growing use of private healthcare to tend to NHS patients, as he attempts to bear fruit on his pledge for no longer than an 18-week wait for non-urgent care for people by 2029. The tone was measured and the detail substantive – it represented an encouraging start to what is a pivotal period for this government. It now must be replicated across the various sectors, the idea has been established of everything being broken and assimilated into the collective consciousness, now must come the solution and the path for restoration.
Starmer’s chief of staff and the de-facto Prime Minister, Morgan McSweeney, has consistently outlined – to those with knowledge – that there is no clear path to take for a centrist incumbent to defeat the prospect of right-wing populism. He is a great proprietor of the idea of deliverance, politics at a granular level is how you demonstrate that you are government of action, which, for most people, is all that they seek.
McSweeney’s dogma is certainly a sensible and proactive way of governance, but once again, it does not align with the actual substance provided by the government. Non urgent care wait list will be down, but not before 2029 – the economy will grow, at some point far into the distant future. It pushes things into the long grass, strikes of complacency and, fundamentally, arrogance. The Labour project was always destined to be two terms, the rhetoric and portrayal of Britain as fundamentally broken have only crystallised that notion since they came to power. The Tories have been defeated, yay! Now what – well give us five years and you’ll see.
To accept the idea you have time, or even the absurd proposition of a seven-year grace period when in government, is fanciful. McSweeney’s ideology cannot be parroted around the corridors of Whitehall but must be the bedrock on which everything Starmer does is built. This is the government of deliverance, the government of making decisions that improve your everyday life. That is where the political sentiment has moved to. The loathing of the ‘establishment’ from both right and left, has been born out of a recitation of language, by those at the top of public life, that is aloof and unrelatable – the pompous gentry talking down to the mindless subject. Yes, vote for us, we’re going to make real change for you. When? Errrrr.
It is how Farage has been able to position himself as anti-establishment because he is seen to get things done. He speaks in an accessible language, in a tone and frankness that people can relate to and understand. What happened in the recent US election was an example of how people see politics as something that is now participatory – whipped up by the populist drum beaters, people’s desire to be involved is being utilised as a weapon to fuel these leaders’ rhetoric. Trust has been broken down and shattered. Populations have shunned the confirmed prerogative of how things should be run, they seek an alternative, fuelled by an inner belief that by refuting, they are taking back control.
The complete reshaping of how public life and its bodies are perceived to function – how people want these things to operate – must be given the most credence when developing strategies by those in government. Starmer should bat away the inane contributions to the discourse by Musk and his acolytes, not through jargon-riddled elucidations but by doing. The political environment now demands greater accountability for your ability to deliver the changes you promised. Starmer cannot afford to procrastinate, stand still and allow his government to be in stasis.