‘No sense of direction’: The downfall of decent but despised Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer is regarded even by his opponents as a decent man, hardworking and courteous, and yet he has become the most disliked British prime minister since modern political polling began. Starmer led the United Kingdom’s Labour Party to a landslide general election victory in July 2024, winning 411 seats in the House of Commons, a majority of 174. It was the third highest haul of seats achieved by Labour after Tony Blair’s landslides in 1997 and 2001. Recommended Stories list of 3 items end of list The UK, he told a jubilant crowd back then, had an opportunity “to get its future back”. But there were warning signs. His victory was achieved with just a 34 percent share of the vote. On Monday, he resigned as prime minister. “Every decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” he said. A former top lawyer, Starmer ran the Crown Prosecution Service for years and was known as methodical and process-driven. A relative novice to politics, he ascended to the helm of the Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn in 2020 after only five years in the House of Commons. But Labour’s relatively limited popularity after the 2024 vote began to plunge quickly, along with Starmer’s approval ratings. “He did not define what he believed in and what the Labour Party believed in. …