In the wake of Rayner’s resignation and the following Cabinet reshuffle, one thing has become blatantly clear about our current Prime Minister and his government. Starmer still dreams of being Blair 2.0.
Starmer’s chasmic reshuffle, seemingly constructed to distract the public from Rayner’s fiscal disgrace, has one clear purpose only.
Ex-Blairites are now in the majority, left-leaning ministers the minority, as proven by the inclusion of MPs such as Emma Reynolds and Douglas Alexander, both whom served in roles in Blair’s government.
Perhaps the most interesting promotion of the reshuffle is of Alexander’s, considering that his predecessor, Ian Murray, was extremely popular, not to mention loyal, thus his sacking seeming to be nonsensical.
There seems to be no reason for Alexander to ascend to the role of Secretary of State for Scotland, considering there’s been no major scandals regarding that position under Murray.
Unsurprisingly, Alexander was Blair’s final Secretary of State for Scotland, in 2006, a clear decision made by Starmer to Blairify his government. What other reason could there be to make such an unnecessary replacement?
This suggests that Starmer has plans to carry out major constitutional change regarding devolution, in the same manner Blair did, although that does seem unlikely.
It’s true that Scotland, and to a lesser extent Wales, has become more nationalistic in the last few years, but Starmer’s paid little attention to the devolved nations during his time as Prime Minister. In fact, it often appears that Starmer isn’t aware the devolved nations exist. So, why would he begin now? Especially considering that greater systemic issues need to be addressed across the UK, within health and education, areas that Blair was passionate to fix.
His appointments are simply an attempt to project a façade of Blairite inspired strength over his cabinet. After all, Blair’s cabinet was balanced between the right and the left of Labour, which worked, allowing New Labour to appease members on both sides of the political spectrum.
What Starmer is doing is a weak imitation of that. Starmer has completely removed the left from his cabinet, no longer needing the appeasement of the people now he’s solidified his power. He certainly must know he’s lost the left to Corbyn’s new “Your Party” , after his stubborness to support Gaza, with virtually no hope of gaining them back.
Then again, perhaps this switch to the right is reactionary to Reform. After all, he did announce the Cabinet shake-up on the first day of Reform UK’s national conference, thus eliminating attention from Farage expressing his vision of the UK under a Reform government.
Rayner’s resignation gave Farage fire to attack Starmer with, especially as Reform welcomed their own working class defector Nadine Dorries in fierce dichotomy to Labour.
Perhaps criticism is what Starmer wants from Reform. If he can continue to force them into being the party of opposition, rather than performing as a genuine alternative to govern, then Starmer may just be able to manipulate the country into believing Labour is capable of governing.
But Starmer isn’t trying to be Farage. The real issue is Starmer’s outlandish belief that surrounding himself with ministers of Blair will transform him into a neo-liberal centrist like Blair. Reconstructing his cabinet is simply performative, without policy to back it up.
Regarding policy, Starmer’s are so starkly divergent from Blair’s, for example, his decision to nationalise energy and rail, rather than privatise, as Blair did. If Starmer was serious about reviving New Labour, he’d be pursuing models of mixed economies, in which the private sector props up publicly funded services, as have done countries such as Germany to continue developing Third Way ideology. But unfortunately, Starmer is keen only to eliminate the left in terms of power and identity, rather than policy.
Starmer’s ambition also is rather sparse, in comparison to Blair. Consistently, he’s announced policies, only to U-turn at the whisper of opposition, which is so un-Blair like that it is almost humourous.
Blair did have the advantage of loyal MPs, which Starmer does not, not after his failures with the Israel and Palestine situation, but then again, the fact that Starmer wasn’t willing to attempt to face critique for his ambition is deeply unsettling.
A Prime Minister should not be at the whim of his party. At least, not one who wants to dress himself in the mask of neo-liberalism.
Starmer has betrayed the core pillars of Blairite ambition, those being improving education and employment opportunities. In fact, it could be argued that Starmer has abandoned universities in their struggle, for despite consistent statements issued by numerous universities regarding their worsening financial situation, Starmer has not pledged any form of support.
Yes, he did increase tuition fees, to 9.5k, but that is not going to save these institutions from collapse. In actual fact, Starmer’s government has reduced the money that universities are earning, as a result of making student visas harder to obtain, thus restricting international students, who pay higher tuition fees, from entering UK universities. This is undeniably dichotomous to Blair’s championing of further education, for Starmer seems to have forsaken any aid towards them.
Then again, Starmer also seems to not care about the generation entering work. After all, it’s not a secret that the job market in the UK has become impossible for graduates to enter, with unemployment levels soaring. And yet, Starmer has also made no effort to rectify this.
Once again, his tampering in the welfare system has actually made the job market more crowded, as thousands previously relying on disability benefits have been forced into work, creating more competition for sparse roles. And yet, Starmer is not to attempt innovative policies, as Blair did, to improve and increase jobs in the UK. That is a disgrace.
Starmer may attempt to manipulate optics, with his Blairite reconstruction of the cabinet, but the truth is clear. It’s simply a mask, one that will soon slip the second that his policies don’t line up with the façade. Labour is losing the battle, and false neo-liberalism will not bring it back.
Featured image via 360d / Shutterstock and Sean Aidan Calderbank / Shutterstock.
