Few ever believed Sir Keir Starmer could become PM – an extraordinary set of events changed all of that
When Sir Keir Starmer became Labour leader in 2020, few ever believed he would become prime minister.
The party was reeling from its worst performance at the ballot box since 1935, riven by internal divisions, under fire over its record of tackling antisemitism and facing a seemingly unassailable Boris Johnson atop an 80-seat majority.
Sir Keir was billed as the Neil Kinnock of 21st-century Labour: the man who would do the hard yards of rehabilitation to get Labour back into the running for whoever came next.
But an extraordinary set of events changed all of that: a global COVID pandemic, the largely self-inflicted collapse of the Johnson administration, and the debacle of Liz Truss’s 44 days in office.
All the political capital won at the ballot box in 2019 has long been spent, and the Sunak government is now in huge deficit.
Labour, ahead in the polls for the past 15 months, is now 28 points ahead, according to latest YouGov polling. Rishi Sunak may have calmed the chaos. But he isn’t closing the gap.
The Tories are in despair. As one former cabinet minister ruefully remarked to me: “Oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose them, and we are f*****.”
Sir Keir, who said back in 2020 when he became Labour leader that he had a mountain to climb to turn things around before the next general election in 2024, now has the summit in sight.
Gifted the climbing kit by his political adversaries, he now wants to use the rest of this year to build his own case with voters who might have fallen out of love with the Conservatives but are still unsure about him.
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‘Tide is turning on SNP and Tories’
‘Five missions’ to answer the big question from voters
Recent polling suggests that when voters are asked what Sir Keir’s Labour stand for, the most common answer is “don’t know”.
But today, Sir Keir is aiming to begin to answer that question during a major speech in Manchester.
He will outline the five “missions” that will form the backbone of his 2024 manifesto. His themes are the economy, climate change, the NHS, skills, and law and order.
The actual policies are being closely guarded – but senior Labour sources are promising that Sir Keir will offer up measurable goals and timelines for achieving those around economic growth and climate change today.
Five point plans and pledge cards are nothing new. At the beginning of the year, Rishi Sunak set out his five promises to voters for the remainder of his term in office – to grow the economy in 2023, halve inflation, cut debt, stop small boats, and cut NHS waiting lists.
In the run up to the 1997 general election, Tony Blair had a pledge card with five very specific policies he would deliver: from cutting cut class sizes to 30 to promising not to raise income tax rates.
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Sir Keir Starmer meets Ukraine’s president
‘More about blue-sky thinking than real-life retail politics’
But this speech is not about that, say senior Labour sources. Sir Keir’s missions will be different to specific pledges. “They are about long-term objectives,” a senior Labour figure said.
“They will be the chapters in the manifesto.
“We’ll then have specific pledges about how we deliver the mission.”
If the mission is, say, a commitment to high economic growth, the pledges that will follow set out how to accomplish that mission.
So today will be more about blue-sky thinking than real-life retail politics. Those around Sir Keir insist that this is not a knee-jerk reaction to Mr Sunak’s own mission statement for the next 18 months – also five points – but rather a framework for governing.
It is, if you like, going back to his theme of ending “sticking plaster politics” and trying to expand on what he means when he talks about a Labour government embarking on a “decade of national renewal”.
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Labour leader says NHS must change
Big thoughts clash with pressing needs
But Labour politicians who are canvassing on doorsteps are hearing about the very real problems of a monthly pay packet that won’t cover the bills, being unable to see a doctor, or being affected by anti-social behaviour. Big thoughts are perhaps not what they want when dealing with pressing needs.
Today is being billed by the Labour leader’s team as a key staging post on Labour’s journey to get voters to really look at the party again. To win the next general election, Labour will need a big chunk of Tory and SNP voters to switch back.
“We can’t afford to let government lose, we need to win,” is how one candidate put it to me – and they are looking to Sir Keir to give them real policies to sell on the doorstep.
That Sir Keir is even in this position should be considered a victory of sorts. Having a serious shot at government was a pipedream rather than a real prospect when he won the Labour leadership race back in 2020, and his mission speech is a key staging post in that journey as the Labour leader sets out his stall.
Sir Keir might be in ascendancy but he knows he still has to seal the deal – and how these missions land could prove crucial.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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