Do working-class heroes still exist? Judging by how Keir Starmer carved out his personal brand on Sky News’s leaders’ special last night, Labour’s speechwriters certainly think so. The campaign is trundling on, and those playing “drink every time Starmer drops a class-conscious cliché” may find themselves inebriated for much of June. Once again, the Labour leader reminded us that his dad was a toolmaker, though he didn’t get round to telling us his mum’s phone was cut off, and he was the first in his family to go to university.
For a knight of the realm, and the man once rumoured to have inspired the ultimate Noughties middle-class dreamboat, Mark Darcy, this kind of forced relatability is an essential strategy. Faced by an opponent with more personal wealth than the King, it should also be a winning approach. But something about Starmer’s aspirational narrative has failed to land. Voters remain confused about his origin story. Few are inspired by it. And yet his biography is genuine and inherently sympathetic. Why is it, then, that nobody seems to care?
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