At the start of the year, merely seven months into the new Labour government, I wrote that Starmer’s authority must be the underlining force that carries his government’s agenda.
After the fiasco which has unravelled in the short few months that have followed it is evident that the Prime Minister has failed in this duty.
Since I made those remarks we have seen a continuous streak of hard U- Turns, which have been fuelled by a revolt from the Prime Minister’s own backbenches, a position which a government with any majority, let alone such a substantial one, should not be in just a year after a general election.
As subsequent events have unfolded it has been evident that this substantial majority has actually been the source of Starmer’s headaches regarding party discipline after a turbulent first year in office.
The issue with achieving such a large election win is you end up with a large number of new MPs. With this comes the inexperience of how they should act, carry themselves and most importantly, a lack of hardened loyalty over how vote in parliament.
Now this may not be much of an issue for new MPs entering into a party that finds itself in opposition; much like Labour after the election under Corbyn, as the function of the opposition is to excoriate the parliamentary party – the real issue arises when you have a large amount of new MPs, whilst attempting to govern.
The role of the three-line whip becomes unquestionably more critical in government, with every vote being absolutely vital to your government’s agenda and credibility. Labour have an additional problem when it comes to new MPs, being those who bring in that classic “Labour Activist” mindset whilst being in the governing party.
You have to sympathise with the PM as he must contend with new backbenchers who are still stuck in the mindset of being in that post-Corbyn opposition party, where they can vote freely without causing much of a fuss. They must realise they in fact find themselves as the governing party where their duty is to get through the government’s manifesto which they owe their seats to.
The main uproar from rebels who have revolted within Starmer’s ranks has been due to what they say is a Labour government which doesn’t seem to carry Labour values.
In fairness to this claim the Prime Minister could have chosen a different direction on economic policy, which has seemed overly Conservative for the average Labour voter to stomach in nature in a lot of areas.
The truth of the matter is that sensible government relies on pragmatic decisions, not overly optimistic social policy which the Labour Party traditionally embodies.
Now this has obviously rattled a few on Starmer’s backbench who cannot seem to grasp that this is what being in government entails, much to Starmer and Number 10’s bewilderment.
Starmer has tried to reaffirm some sense of authority by suspending those who he has picked out as being responsible for the welfare revolt, however it is unclear whether this will actually have the intended affect.
Without pointing out that the obvious revolts of this magnitude are not sustainable if they become the norm, which is looking increasingly likely under this Labour administration, I can’t help but notice that a large part of why these revolts have become so easy is the disconnect between Starmer and his backbench.
The Prime Minister is yet to foster a tight working relationship with each member of his new intake through in person meetings, there remains that barrier in the way which means a large fraction of his party do not feel any deep-rooted loyalty towards him, making it all that much easier to revolt due to that lack of guilt behind such a decision.
Whilst being questioned by the Commons Liasson Committee on Monday the Prime Minister said that best thing about his first year in office was “walking into Downing Street”.
This answer may point to the other problem of Starmer’s own making; the Prime Minister has been so fixated on getting to his position that he has failed in actually figuring out the operational logistics of his administration, allowing a sequence of events to unfold which undermines his government’s credibility.
What the start of this Labour administration points to is a lesson for all future governments: When it comes to effectively governing the foundation of what you are building really does matter.
Featured image via House of Commons.
