100%. Plus Sir John was canny enough to be bold when it came to facing his opponents. That’s all that SKS has in the box now. Policy statements and a story won’t cut it. Also Burnham also needs to put up or shut up too. Don’t stand in his way but offer him the health post after Streeting gets the boot. SKS should also stand against AB and anyone else. No surrender.
Starmer treats politics as administration. He may or may not be a good chief operating officer in a corporate or departmental setting but hasn’t the communication skills for the CEO and Chair of the Board. Furthermore, he seems to view his MPs as staff or employees, rather than semi-independent followers, who need to be wooed, cajoled and flattered.
True but communication skills are overrated. - Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine, Margaret Thatcher. All excellent but it was their policies that made a difference.
This completes the picture, Simon. Thank you. And of course, you are correct about policies making the weather. Had Labour devoted some (any?) more time while in opposition to developing and setting out policies, over the last two years it might have had more to show.
Policies make the difference in the end. Not saying their policies were good bad or indifferent. Being able to make a speech tell a story or rebut hecklers is great theatre but in the end it’s policies that matter. Steve Richards is always good on this point.
Policies make the weather. You need to write the story first then deliver. Delivery is always the problem and being able to explain helps which is why the snake poll salesman is so dangerous.
It's fascinating to consider that SKS has repeated the mistakes of Blair by not going fast enough, hard enough at the start of the electoral term. No one expected Blair and Brown to stick to the spending limit for two years if elected, and they did. The issue is will SKS put party before ego? The truth is that he is deeply unpopular, perhaps unfairly so, but that he is a lousy communicator is true. So the question for SKS is if the polls show him as a PM leading to a Reform government will he step aside, or would he rather lose as PM? Will he sacrifice himself for the greater good? Labour still have a good chance of winning a second term. There are over three years to go - but trust and reputation once lost are impossible to regain, and SKS has lost both because he is not fundamentally a politician.
Completely agree with this piece. The puzzling thing is that Starmer, while obviously capable of running a big organisation, is decent and highly intelligent, makes so many basic errors which I can see from the comfort of my suburban living room. The latest is thinking that appointing Brown (a man I respect highly) and Harman will change anything. Bizarre.
100%. Plus Sir John was canny enough to be bold when it came to facing his opponents. That’s all that SKS has in the box now. Policy statements and a story won’t cut it. Also Burnham also needs to put up or shut up too. Don’t stand in his way but offer him the health post after Streeting gets the boot. SKS should also stand against AB and anyone else. No surrender.
Starmer treats politics as administration. He may or may not be a good chief operating officer in a corporate or departmental setting but hasn’t the communication skills for the CEO and Chair of the Board. Furthermore, he seems to view his MPs as staff or employees, rather than semi-independent followers, who need to be wooed, cajoled and flattered.
He is inadequate but cannot be displaced. Yet.
True but communication skills are overrated. - Tony Benn, Michael Foot, Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine, Margaret Thatcher. All excellent but it was their policies that made a difference.
This completes the picture, Simon. Thank you. And of course, you are correct about policies making the weather. Had Labour devoted some (any?) more time while in opposition to developing and setting out policies, over the last two years it might have had more to show.
My apologies, Simon. I’m not sure I follow your closing sentence. Could you help me, please?
Policies make the difference in the end. Not saying their policies were good bad or indifferent. Being able to make a speech tell a story or rebut hecklers is great theatre but in the end it’s policies that matter. Steve Richards is always good on this point.
But surely, if not in government, policies are of no account - however brilliant?
Policies make the weather. You need to write the story first then deliver. Delivery is always the problem and being able to explain helps which is why the snake poll salesman is so dangerous.
It's fascinating to consider that SKS has repeated the mistakes of Blair by not going fast enough, hard enough at the start of the electoral term. No one expected Blair and Brown to stick to the spending limit for two years if elected, and they did. The issue is will SKS put party before ego? The truth is that he is deeply unpopular, perhaps unfairly so, but that he is a lousy communicator is true. So the question for SKS is if the polls show him as a PM leading to a Reform government will he step aside, or would he rather lose as PM? Will he sacrifice himself for the greater good? Labour still have a good chance of winning a second term. There are over three years to go - but trust and reputation once lost are impossible to regain, and SKS has lost both because he is not fundamentally a politician.
Completely agree with this piece. The puzzling thing is that Starmer, while obviously capable of running a big organisation, is decent and highly intelligent, makes so many basic errors which I can see from the comfort of my suburban living room. The latest is thinking that appointing Brown (a man I respect highly) and Harman will change anything. Bizarre.