The Labour leader will need to up his game as he faces a new threat, writes TERRY MURDEN
He’s already known as ‘two-tier Keir’, accused of overseeing double standards in the judicial system. Now it’s ‘free gear Keir’, as freebies from well-placed supporters have been filling the wardrobes of the Labour leader and his wife Lady Victoria faster than a boat for illegal immigrants.
The epithets keep on coming for Sir Keir Starmer just two months after he led his army of newly-elected MPs into Westminster promising to clean up politics and bring an end to years of Tory misrule.
Instead, we’ve been treated to the frocky horror show by a PM who said he would bring about national renewal, honesty and competence, but chose to tell us things will only get worse and has been confirmed as a hypocrite, promising to cut energy bills and then forcing pensioners to turn off their heating this winter.
The change agenda, still being repeated ad nauseam by his Scottish cheerleader Anas Sarwar, is looking pretty hollow as the party gathers in Liverpool. Labour may have rushed through its wealth fund and GB Energy bill, and held countless meetings with businesses about planning and investment, but this has been a summer dominated by one policy decision – axing winter fuel payments – and the freebies enjoyed by Sir Keir and his Cabinet colleagues, the deputy PM Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
No matter that they have pledged not to receive further donations, party members now fear that Sir Keir risks squandering a hard-fought election victory and that instead of arriving on Merseyside for a celebration, he will have to defend a personal rating that has plummeted among voters. Some Liverpudlians, never knowingly underestimated for their response to injustice, are telling Sir Keir and his party on social media that they are not welcome in the city.
There must be concern as to how this rapid slump in popular support will manifest itself after a summer of riots and claims that Labour has betrayed pensioners, the oil industry, and those who believe illegal immigrants should not be enjoying the fruits of the tax and welfare system at their expense. As former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie said, Labour’s bungled start to governing the country explains why we had 14 years of Tory rule.
Maybe the Chancellor will ride to the rescue by teasing out some promises of good things to come in her first Budget next month. Well, don’t hold your breath. She’s also bought into the “Starm offensive” and her warm up act in Liverpool will prepare us for tax rises and more cuts as she “tackles the mess left by the Tories.”
It isn’t looking so rosy for Labour in Scotland, either. Polling before the election that put the party on course to replace the SNP at Holyrood has not held up during the first weeks of Labour’s chaotic takeover of Westminster. It is a reflection of how bad things are for Labour that voters are prepared to favour the SNP despite the nationalists’ own rotten record in government.
I wrote in a number of columns before the election about Labour’s audacious ability to reverse pledges and opinions on any given argument.
In May, just two months before the General Election, Sir Keir criticised the Tories for planning to cut the winter fuel payment and Mr Sarwar demanded the SNP increase the allowance by £70. Within days of the election Rachel Reeves announced it was being cut and this month 35 of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs supported the plan in the Commons. Didn’t Mr Sarwar also criticise the SNP for imposing another unelected First Minister on Scotland then congratulate Eluned Morgan when she took on the same role in Wales without an election?
After a week insisting that the donations of free clothes and concert tickets were “within the rules” and that he saw nothing wrong with continuing the practice, Sir Keir and his Cabinet colleagues announced (on Friday 20th) they would not receive further donations.
As for Mr Sarwar, he’s now nervously looking over his shoulder as the race he expected to win in 2026 is not looking so certain thanks to the faltering start made by Labour in Westminster and the ‘wrong’ messages being sent to voters in Scotland,
On the back of the heightened disillusion and anger with the established elites, Nigel Farage has been enjoying a groundswell of support and will be campaigning for his Reform Party in Scotland in the belief he can change the political temperature north of the border.
Before the EU lovers and the Morningside drummers start planning their demonstrations, it should be remembered that despite failing to secure any parliamentary seats in Scotland, Reform still won 165,045 votes, 14 times more than the 11,784 who voted for Alex Salmond’s breakaway Alba party – and without any campaigning. That gave Reform a 7% share of the vote in Scotland.
In 2013 Mr Farage required a police escort to get out of an Edinburgh pub and subsequent visits have been met by noisy demonstrations. That opposition seems to be receding as the Reform leader delivers messages and warnings that now chime more closely with the concerns of people who feel abandoned by the mainstream parties. Crucially, Reform’s new supporters are coming from all sides.
Furthermore, while Reform considers itself unionist, it is said to have a relatively relaxed attitude towards a second independence referendum, enough perhaps to persuade some nationalists to make the switch. How ironic would that be for a movement that has demanded a return to the EU and is ready to welcome refugees that England doesn’t want?
Polling expert Professor Sir John Curtice says that if Reform replicated its 4 July vote share in the 2026 Scottish elections it would be looking at a “small, but not insignificant presence” in Holyrood. It may be enough to deprive either the SNP or Labour a majority in the next parliament. If so, they would only have themselves to blame.
This article was updated on 20 September
Terry Murden was Editor and Business Editor at The Sunday Times Scotland, Business Editor at The Scotsman, and Business and City Editor at Scotland on Sunday. He is now Editor of Daily Business.
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