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Sir Keir Starmer will mark his first 100 days in office this Sunday. When his press spokesperson was asked ahead of the big day if the prime minister thought it had been a successful start, he simply said: “It’s up to the public to decide that.”

The verdict is in, and it isn’t good: Sir Keir’s approval poll ratings last week fell to -33 – a drop of 44 points since his post-election high, while one poll put Labour just one point ahead of the Tories.

A poll out this weekend by YouGov finds nearly half of those who voted Labour in the last general election feel let down so far, while six in 10 disapprove of the government’s record so far, against one in six who approve of the Starmer government.

Sir Keir will no doubt say it’s not about the first 100 days, it’s about the “next decade of national renewal”. And perhaps he has a point. How can you foretell the fortunes of a political leader from 100 days?

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The great late Alistair Cooke in one of his Letter from America dispatches said making a big deal out of the first 100 days was a “foolish custom”.

Sir Keir Starmer. Pic: PA
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Sir Keir Starmer. Pic: PA

And in some ways he is right. For a start, how can anyone measure up to the leader this mythic yardstick was used for, Franklin D Roosevelt? He pushed through a record number of laws in his first 100 days in office as he sought to pull America out of the clutches of the Great Depression and confront a national crisis.

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Nothing like it has been seen before or since. You can understand why the vainglorious Donald Trump dismissed the 100 days notion as a “ridiculous standard” (while simultaneously caring ever so much and setting up a website dedicated to his first 100 days).

Putting FDR aside, there are reasons why the first 100 days are a useful yardstick. It sets the tone of a premiership and tells us something about a leader’s momentum.

In these early weeks, fresh from an election victory, a prime minister is at the height of their popularity and political capital.

The first 100 days then can be seen as a staging post in which we can take stock and ask whether a leader has met the moment or fallen short.

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, Lady Victoria arrive ahead of his keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool. Picture date: Tuesday September 24, 2024.
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Sir Keir and his wife Lady Victoria. Pic: PA

100 days Sir Keir might want to forget

For Sir Keir it’s been 100 days he might in many ways want to forget. By pretty much any measure, it’s been a disappointing start. From opinion polls to party management to the operation of No 10, Sir Keir has been in difficulty.

That a prime minister felt compelled to overhaul his top team and replace his chief of staff Sue Gray on the eve of his 100-day anniversary says it all.

Instead of using the first 100 days marker to shout about all the things this Labour government has done, the prime minister has triggered a reset of his government.

The fresh start promised in the election campaign has given way to a false start after his No 10 operation became paralysed by infighting, his personal ratings plummeted after rows over freebies and his government got so lost in itself it forgot to tell the story of change and show that story to the public.

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Starmer: It’s ‘right’ to repay gifts

An ‘incredibly frustrating’ start

It has been, admits one senior government figure, an “incredibly frustrating” period in which the work of government has been drowned out by the mess around Downing Street power struggles and rows over concert tickets, spectacles and suits.

“A lot of Starmer’s early decisions have been designed to deliver on the manifesto promises and the economy. We have pushed through renters reform, making work pay, we are setting up GB Energy and pushing through planning reform,” says another senior figure.

“A lot of what we have done is to get things going on that path to deliver for the people. It’s the worst thing for everyone and every member of cabinet not to be talking about the change the country elected us for.

“We have taken a bit of a hit [over freebies] but I think it’s fixable because it’s optics rather than wasting taxpayer’s money. It’s more about a country that wants to see the PM lead on issues they care about – the cost of living, the NHS, the economy – and when they don’t see that, it’s frustrating.”

Left to right) David Gill, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Prince George and the Prince of Wales appear dejected in the stands after the final whistle following the UEFA Euro 2024 final match at the Olympiastadion, Berlin. Picture date: Sunday July 14, 2024.
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Sir Keir with Prince George and the Prince of Wales in the stands after the final whistle at the Euro 2024 final. Pic: PA

‘What poor conditions the country is in’

It has also been, admit No 10 and No 11 insiders, much more difficult than they anticipated.

Be it the race riots that ripped through our cities shortly after Labour was elected, to the crisis of prison places or the problems of immediate funding shortfalls the chancellor says she’s identified, the new administration has been beset by challenges.

Keir Starmer arrives with Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband.
Pic: PA
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Sir Keir arrives with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. Pic: PA

“It’s been very clear this first 100 days what poor conditions the country’s in,” says one senior government figure.

Overlay that with the crisis in the Middle East and the ongoing Ukraine war, and this is a prime minister and new team with a very full plate indeed.

But what has also been clear these first 100 days is what poor condition the prime minister’s operation is in.

Sir Keir Starmer addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Pic: AP
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Sir Keir addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Pic: AP

The prime minister has taken a huge gamble

You may not know the characters behind the big black door of No 10, or what they do, but what will be obvious to you is that having to overhaul the operation within the first three months of government because it has become dysfunctional, toxic and not fit for purpose, doesn’t bode well.

Because it raises a very acute question: if a prime minister can’t run Downing Street, how the hell is he going to run the country?

That Sir Keir moved to clean up his No 10 operation last week was a defining moment for his first term in office.

By moving out Sue Gray as his chief of staff – the most powerful unelected figure in government – and replacing her with his trusted ally and key political aide Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister has taken a huge gamble.

That’s because he’s swapped out an experienced Whitehall operator with over 30 years of experience in government with a political strategist who is the brains behind the election victory. But the big unknown is whether Mr McSweeney can run the government like he ran the election.

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Why did Sue Gray resign?

Has McSweeney got the experience to run the government?

The whole point of bringing Ms Gray into the No 10 operation is because she understood the machinery of government and how to pull the levers of Whitehall to get things done.

Mr McSweeney might be a brilliant political operator but has he got the experience to actually run government? Sir Keir presumably in the past concluded he had not, which is why he hired Ms Gray.

Friends of Ms Gray tell me she thought Sir Keir needed to pad out the team who ran his office as leader of the opposition with more big beasts now he was running the government.

They say she pushed to bring in new people who she thought had the necessary experience – the reason Sir Keir didn’t have a principal private secretary, a crucial mandarin for any prime minister, until Ms Gray was removed was because she and others were locked in a turf war over it.

You know the tensions that ensued as Ms Gray went to war with advisors – over their job titles, their access to the prime minister, their salaries, their readiness for government – because she became the subject of endless briefings.

The more Ms Gray was in the press, the more untenable she knew her position would become with a prime minister running out of patience.

Sir Keir did move and moved decisively. But that his operation got so toxic, and that some on his team kept up the briefing wars despite him absolutely hating it, doesn’t bode well for the prime minister: it speaks to dysfunction in his operation – and it is rarely one individual from which that dysfunction flows.

Starmer would probably like to start again

The prime minister can at least take comfort from the fact much of the criticism a leader faces in the first 100 days doesn’t have to define the success of a leader.

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President Bill Clinton got off to a shaky start in his first term and went on to become the second Democrat president since Roosevelt to win a second term.

But if, as one of Sir Keir’s allies tells me, “every day in government matters”, then you also have to conclude Sir Keir’s first 100 days have been a horrible waste as the prime minister scrambled to set the agenda and keep his own house in order.

He is a prime minister who would probably like to forget his first 100 days entirely and start again.

There will be an investment summit on Monday and the budget later this month. The goal of this government is to “be boring” and get back to the business of governing.

The next election is a long way off, Sir Keir has a big majority and a massive megaphone.

He can perhaps afford to write off these first three months if he gets the next few right. But after one false start, he can’t afford another.

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Industry calls for urgent crypto law reforms after Australian election

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Industry calls for urgent crypto law reforms after Australian election

Industry calls for urgent crypto law reforms after Australian election

The Australian crypto industry has called on the newly reelected Labor government to urgently make digital asset legislation a top priority to ensure Australia doesn’t fall further behind global markets.

The incumbent Australian Labor Party was returned in a landslide on May 3, picking up 54.9% of the two-party-preferred vote, against the Liberal and National Parties on 45.1%. Both parties went to the election promising crypto law reform, but only the opposition pledged to deliver draft legislation within 100 days.

Joy Lam, Binance’s head of global regulatory and APAC legal, said the exchange has been consulting with Treasury officials since late 2023 about its proposed legislation, and it was now time for action.

“Timing is really quite critical now because obviously it’s something that has been discussed and kicked around for quite a few years,” she told Cointelegraph.

Coinbase managing director for APAC John O’Loghlen said the reelected Albanese Government has the “opportunity and the responsibility to move quickly on this issue” and called for a Crypto-Asset Taskforce to be established within its first 100 days “with the aim of bringing forward legislation that protects consumers, promotes innovation, and stops the exodus of talent and capital to other markets.”

Cryptocurrencies, Australia, Bitcoin Regulation
Reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Source: Anthony Albanese

BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler said that “beyond the political implications, this result sets the stage for meaningful progress in Australia’s approach to digital asset regulation.”

Lam noted that the UK released its draft regulations last week, stablecoin bills are moving forward in the US, and the EU has already implemented its MiCA legislation.

“So there’s a very clear shift. Everyone’s moving towards providing the regulatory framework that is needed for the industry to develop in a sustainable way. So time is really of the essence now.”

Draft crypto legislation within months

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ office told Cointelegraph that exposure draft legislation would be released sometime this year for consultation, and any legislated reforms would be “phased in over time to minimize disruptions to existing businesses.”

Although the Treasury has draft legislation on “regulating digital asset platforms” and “payments system modernization” scheduled for release by the end of June, Lam isn’t confident. “I don’t know whether this quarter specifically is still sort of the timeline,” she said.

Related: Australian election will bring pro-crypto laws either way

While the ALP has been attacked by some over not taking any action in its first term in government, that may actually have resulted in a better outcome than legislation that took its cues from the approach of Joe Biden’s administration, which took a hard line on banks dealing with cryptocurrency and viewed most coins as securities. 

Industry figures report a noticeable evolution in the government’s approach to crypto between when proposals were first put out for consultation at the end of 2023 and when the Treasury released its much more positive “Statement on Developing an innovative Australian digital asset industry” in March this year.

Cryptocurrencies, Australia, Bitcoin Regulation
Australia Votes running tally on the Australian election. Source: ABC

The statement sets out key priorities, such as using the existing Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) regime to underpin the regulation of Digital Asset Platforms and payment stablecoins. It’s focused on the safe custody of client assets by centralized providers and sidesteps issues around decentralized finance platforms

Lam welcomed the use of the AFSL regime. “Obviously, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “It’s something that people know and understand. It’s a pretty sensible move, and it’s also going to be much easier for regulators.”

Tokenization and sandbox

The government will also review the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox, which aims to provide space for innovative digital asset startups to grow free of red tape. The statement also highlights opportunities with tokenization.

Lam said the change in emphasis showed the government has been listening to the industry. 

“It reflects the industry feedback that they would have received in 2023 as a result of the consultation, as well as the changing landscape because obviously it’s been evolving pretty quickly internationally,” Lam said.

“They do have the benefit now of looking at what has worked and hasn’t worked in other jurisdictions, and really building on those lessons.”

Dea Markovy, policy director at Fireblocks, told Cointelegraph that “a lot of the groundwork and research is done” and it was looking broadly positive.

“Of course, a lot of details are still to come around Australia’s Digital Asset Platforms (DAPs) regime. What is significant here is the willingness of the Government to cut through the complexity and uncertainty on crypto intermediaries licensing.” 

The securities regulator ASIC released its own crypto regulations proposals (INFO 225) in December, and feedback from those consultations will help inform the government’s new legislation. 

“In essence, it details how different token issuances and crypto intermediation will fit into Australia’s existing securities legislation, providing for a transition period,” explained Markovy.

The draft guidance suggests NFTs, in-game assets and memecoins are not financial products — the local equivalent of a “security” — while a yield-bearing stablecoin or a gold-backed token probably are.

The Treasury statement also highlighted issues with debanking. Lam said that simply regulating the industry would go a long way toward solving the issue.

“What we really want from governments and regulators is that clean licensing framework, because that goes a long way to mitigating the risk and giving the banks the comfort that they need,” she said. “And then, there’s probably going to need to be some additional guidance given to banks.”

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Wes Streeting denies Labour has made ‘mistakes’ with ‘unpopular’ policies despite poor local election results

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Wes Streeting denies Labour has made 'mistakes' with 'unpopular' policies despite poor local election results

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has defended “unpopular” policies such as the cut to the winter fuel allowance despite Labour’s poor performance at the local elections.

Mr Streeting denied the government had made any mistakes when asked whether the policy was partly to blame for the party losing 189 council seats less than a year since the General Election.

Since coming into government last July, Labour has enacted a number of policies that were not in its manifesto.

These include means-testing winter fuel payments for pensioners, increasing employers’ national insurance contributions and slashing £5bn from the welfare bill.

Asked what mistakes his government had made so far that had led to its drubbing at the ballot box, Mr Streeting told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “Well, we will make plenty of mistakes.”

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Pressed again on whether he believed “mistakes” had been made, the health secretary replied: “No. When we made those choices, we knew they would be unpopular. And we knew that they would be opposed.

“The reason we made those choices is because we genuinely believe they’re the right choices to get the country out of the massive hole it was left in. And right across the board. Whether it’s the NHS, whether it’s schools, whether it’s prisons, whether it’s our defence and security, whether it’s crime and policing, there were enormous challenges facing this country when we came in.

“And we’ve had to make big and sometimes unpopular decisions so that we can face those challenges and deal with them. People might thank us if we just kind of go for the easy but we want to make the right choices.”

Some Labour MPs have urged the government to change direction, with one telling Sky News the cut to winter fuel was a “catastrophic error” that must be “remedied” if the party is to see any improvement in public opinion.

Others have warned that in courting Reform voters, the party risks fracturing its coalition of voters on the left who may be tempted by the Liberal Democrats and Green Party.

However, in the aftermath of the local elections, Sir Keir Starmer suggested the poor results meant he needed to go “further and faster” in delivering his existing agenda.

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Inside Reform’s election success

The real victor to emerge from Thursday’s local elections was Reform UK, which won control of 10 councils and picked up 677 council seats largely at the expense of the Conservatives in the south.

However, Reform also won the Runcorn by-election from Labour by just six votes, as well as control of Doncaster Council from Labour – the only local authority it had control of in this set of elections – in a significant win for Nigel Farage and his party.

The Reform UK leader declared that two-party politics was now “finished” and that his party was now the official “opposition” to Labour.

Asked whether the results meant that Labour would now treat Reform as “your most serious opposition”, Mr Streeting said: ” I certainly do treat them as a serious opposition force.”

“As I say, I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat,” he added.

“I don’t have a horse in that race, but like alien versus predator, I don’t really want either one to win.”

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Reform has put the two traditional parties on notice

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Reform UK are ‘fighting force’

Tory Party chairman Nigel Huddleston said Reform UK was not just a protest party and that Mr Farage was “a force in British politics”.

He told Trevor Phillips: “But the one thing about Nigel Farage is, and we’re seeing this again and again and again, he is a populist.

“He is increasingly saying everything that anybody wants to hear. He’s trying to be all things to all men.”

“We are establishing ourselves as a credible alternative government based on sound conservative principles and values and our values and our principles, and therefore our policies, will define the future of our party,” he added.

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It is ‘feasible’ Nigel Farage could be the next prime minister, says Kemi Badenoch

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It is 'feasible' Nigel Farage could be the next prime minister, says Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has admitted it is “feasible” that Nigel Farage could become the next prime minister.

The Tory leader told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme Mr Farage’s party was “expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling” – but added it was her job to “come up with answers and solutions”.

Asked if it was feasible that Mr Farage could be the next prime minister, she cited how Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had won re-election this weekend.

“As I said, anything is feasible,” she said. “Anthony Albanese: people were writing him off. He has just won a landslide, but my job is to make sure that he [Farage] does not become prime minister because he does not have the answers to the problems the country is facing.”

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Could Nigel Farage be prime minister?

Asked what Mr Farage was doing right, Ms Badenoch said: “He is expressing the feeling of frustration that a lot of people around the country are feeling.

“But he also doesn’t have a record in government like the two main parties do. Now he’s going to be running some councils. We’ll see how that goes.”

Mr Farage was the undoubted winner of Thursday’s local elections, in which 23 councils were up for grabs.

His party picked up 677 council seats and took control of 10 councils.

By contrast, the Conservatives lost 677 council seats as well as control of 18 councils in what was their worst local elections performance on record.

Mr Farage said the outcome spelt the end of two-party politics and that his party was now the official “opposition” to Labour – with the Tories having been rendered a “waste of space”.

Read more:
Reform has put the two traditional parties on notice

‘I get it’: Starmer responds after losing Runcorn by-election

Ms Badenoch said she believed the vote for Mr Farage on Thursday was partly down to “protest” but added: “That doesn’t mean we sit back. We are going to come out fighting.

“We are going to come out with the policies that people want to see, but what we are not going to do is rush out and tell the public things that are not true just so we can win votes.

“This is not about winning elections; this is about fixing our country. Yes, of course, you need to win elections to do that, but you also need a credible plan.”

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‘Farage is a force in British politics’

Conservative co-chairman Nigel Huddleston sought to play down the threat from Reform UK, telling Sky News: “When they’re in a position of delivering things, that’s when the shine comes off.”

He told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “The one thing about Nigel Farage is, and we’re seeing this again and again and again, he is a populist.

“He is increasingly saying everything that anybody wants to hear. He’s trying to be all things to all men.”

“We are establishing ourselves as a credible alternative government based on sound conservative principles and values and our values and our principles, and therefore our policies, will define the future of our party,” he added.

Asked whether the results meant that Labour would now treat Reform as “your most serious opposition”, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Trevor Phillips: ” I certainly do treat them as a serious opposition force.”

“As I say, I don’t know whether it will be Reform or the Conservatives that emerge as the main threat,” he added.

“I don’t have a horse in that race, but like alien versus predator, I don’t really want either one to win.”

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