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
Ukrainian frontline commander warns: ‘The world is scared of Russia and losing is not only our problem’
In the courtyard of a farmhouse now home to soldiers of the Ukrainian army’s 47th mechanised brigade, I’m introduced to a weary-looking unit by their commander Captain Oleksandr “Sasha” Shyrshyn.
We are about 10km from the border with Russia, and beyond it lies the Kursk region Ukraine invaded in the summer – and where this battalion is now fighting.
The 47th is a crack fighting assault unit.
They’ve been brought to this area from the fierce battles in the country’s eastern Donbas region to bolster Ukrainian forces already here.
War latest: Russia ready to carry out ‘massive attack’
The captain known by his men as ‘Genius’
In the summer, Ukraine launched an incursion into Russian territory, in Kursk
Captain Shyrshyn explains that among the many shortages the military has to deal with, the lack of infantry is becoming a critical problem.
Sasha is just 30 years old, but he is worldly-wise. He used to run an organisation helping children in the country’s east before donning his uniform and going to war.
He is famous in Ukraine and is regarded as one of the country’s top field commanders, who isn’t afraid to express his views on the war and how it’s being waged.
His nom de guerre is ‘Genius’, a nickname given to him by his men.
Captain Sasha Shyrshyn and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay
‘Don’t worry, it’s not a minefield’
Sasha invited me to see one of the American Bradley fighting vehicles his unit uses.
We walk down a muddy lane before he says it’s best to go cross-country.
“We can go that way, don’t worry it’s not a minefield,” he jokes.
He leads us across a muddy field and into a forest where the vehicle is hidden from Russian surveillance drones that try to hunt both American vehicles and commanders.
Sasha shows me a picture of the house they had been staying in only days before – it was now completely destroyed after a missile strike.
Fortunately, neither he, nor any of his men, were there at the time.
“They target commanders,” he says with a smirk.
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‘The world is scared of Russia’
It takes me a moment or two to realise we are only a few steps away from the Bradley, dug in and well hidden beneath the trees.
The disguised American Bradley vehicle hidden in the forest
Sasha tells me the Bradley is the finest vehicle he has ever used.
A vehicle so good, he says, it’s keeping the Ukrainian army going in the face of Russia’s overwhelming numbers of soldiers.
He explains: “Almost all our work on the battlefield is cooperation infantry with the Bradley. So we use it for evacuations, for moving people from one place to another, as well as for fire-covering.
“This vehicle is very safe and has very good characteristics.”
The American Bradley fighting vehicle that Ukrainian soldiers have found vital in their efforts
Billions of dollars in military aid has been given to Ukraine by the United States, and this vehicle is one of the most valuable assets the US has provided.
Ukraine is running low on men to fight, and the weaponry it has is not enough, especially if it can’t fire long-range missiles into Russia itself – which it is currently not allowed to do.
If President-elect Donald Trump cuts the supply of military aid, the Ukrainians will lose – it’s that simple.
US President-elect Donald Trump has been clear he intends to change his nation’s policy on the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Sasha says: “We have a lack of weapons, we have a lack of artillery, we have a lack of infantry, and as the world doesn’t care about justice, and they don’t want to finish the war by our win, they are afraid of Russia.
“I’m sorry but they’re scared, they’re scared, and it’s not the right way.”
Like pretty much everyone in Ukraine, Sasha is waiting to see what the US election result will mean for his country.
He is sceptical about a deal with Russia.
“Our enemy only understands the language of power. And you cannot finish the war in 24 hours, or during the year without hard decisions, without a fight, so it’s impossible. It’s just talking without results,” he tells me.
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‘Losing will be not only our problem’
These men expect the fierce battles inside Kursk to intensify in the coming days.
Indeed, alongside the main supply route into Kursk, workers are already building new defensive positions – unfurling miles of razor wire and digging bunkers for the Ukrainian army if it finds itself in retreat.
Barbed wire rolled out in the Sumy region ahead of expected fighting
Tank traps in the Sumy region
Sasha and his men are realistic about support fatigue from the outside world but will keep fighting to the last if they have to.
“I understand this is only our problem, it’s only our issue, and we have to fight this battle, like we have to defend ourselves, it’s our responsibility,” Sasha said.
But he points out everyone should realise just how critical this moment in time is.
“If we look at it widely, we have to understand that us losing will be not only our problem, but it will be for all the world.”
Stuart Ramsay reports from northeastern Ukraine with camera operator Toby Nash, and producers Dominique Van Heerden, Azad Safarov, and Nick Davenport.
A weather warning has been issued for parts of Spain, as the country counts the cost of recent flooding.
The orange warnings are in place for parts of southwestern Spain – the area around Seville down towards Gibraltar.
Up to 8cm (3ins) of rain could fall within 12 hours, but the weekend looks much more settled in the country.
The latest warnings come just two weeks after flash flooding in Valencia and other parts of the country killed more than 200 people.
Malaga saw 14.2cm (5.6ins) of rainfall on Wednesday – Spain’s highest of the day – most of which fell in six hours.
All train services were halted in Malaga. Some flights have now resumed after the initial disruption.
Pic: Jamie Marchant
Emergency services in the province have moved 3,000 people from homes at risk of flooding close to the Guadalhorce River in the west of the city.
Jamie Marchant, 29, from Caerphilly in South Wales travelled to Malaga last Wednesday.
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He told Sky News that “debris” had been left behind by the recent rainfall in the region.
“Everyone is pitching in to clean up and some shops are opening as usual,” he added.
Orange warnings for the Valencia region in eastern Spain expired earlier on Thursday.
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The adverse weather could lead to total insured losses of more than €4bn (£3.33bn), according to credit rating agency Morningstar DBRS.
Much of the claims are expected to be covered by the Spanish government’s insurance pool, the agency said, but insurance premiums are likely to increase.
A necklace believed to contain jewels from the infamous Marie Antoinette “Affair of the Diamond Necklace” has been sold for £3.7m.
Set with nearly 500 diamonds and weighing about 300 carats, it smashed price expectations at a Sotheby’s auction in Geneva.
The Marchioness of Anglesey wore it at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, and it was also worn 16 years earlier at King George VI’s crowning.
However, the link to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, may have been the most intriguing selling point for the mystery buyer.
Some of the jewels are believed to have been at the centre of the Affair of the Diamond Necklace – a scandal which is said to have paved the way for Antoinette’s eventual downfall.
The scandal erupted when a hard-up noblewoman, Jeanne de la Motte, pretended to be the queen and acquired a hugely expensive necklace in her name without paying.
An undated portrait of Marie Antoinette. (AP Photo)
Antoinette, who was accused of having a hand in the scam, was acquitted in a trial. But the affair discredited her further in the eyes of the French people – among whom she was already deeply unpopular.
Her reputation never recovered, her public appearances all but ceased, and the number of pamphlets containing malicious gossip about her increased.
It also added to her reputation for extravagance that helped fuel the French Revolution – with the queen beheaded in 1793.
Pic: Reuters
Jewels from the original necklace – which contained nearly 650 diamonds and weighed almost 2,800 carats – were
later sold on the black market, making them hard to trace.
However, a Bond Street jeweller testified at the time that he bought about 350 of them for just over £10,000, according to Sotheby’s.
Experts say the quality and age of the diamonds in the necklace sold on Wednesday point to a match.
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“It’s likely or possible that some of these diamonds may have come from the famous diamond necklace that led to the downfall of Marie Antoinette,” said Jessica Wyndham, Sotheby’s head of magnificent jewels.
The Georgian-era piece measures 67cm and hadn’t been seen in public for 50 years before it came up for sale.
Its final sale price of over 4.2 million Swiss francs was double its pre-auction valuation.
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