Iain Dale’s Diary: An eerie Washington DC, Keir Starmer’s own goal, and the conundrum of Isabel Oakeshott
The Labour leader fumbled his justifications on LBC – but much of the outrage over Sue Gray’s appointment is confected.
ByKeir Starmer
Keir Rodney Starmer is a Labour Party politician who became Prime Minister on 5 July 2024. He has been MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and leader of Labour since April 2020. Starmer, born in 1962, studied law at the University of Leeds and Oxford, then became a barrister specialising in human rights. In 2008 he was appointed director of public prosecutions, for a five-year term. Find news, comment, and analysis about him here.
Why the prospect of Dorries’ stories worries Tories
Your weekly dose of gossip from around Westminster.
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PMQs: Keir Starmer talks tough on migrants
Rhetoric is hardening – on both sides.
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Rachel and Ellie Reeves: “We were constantly underestimated as state-school girls”
In their first joint interview, the Labour frontbenchers and sisters discuss their relationship, class snobbery and battles with the left.
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The triumph of corporate newspeak
An unreal consensus grips our politics – and Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak offer only technocratic fixes for a Britain…
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Wes Streeting: “NHS privatisation could not be further from my aims”
The shadow health secretary on the Labour left, trans rights and the case against outsourcing health services.
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Sue Gray’s appointment proves Labour is still trapped by orthodoxy
The recruitment of the career civil servant shows Keir Starmer is sticking to an outmoded New Labour playbook.
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Union Jacks aren’t just for conservatives
Corbynites who complain about Labour displaying the symbols of the country it hopes to run have given up on electoral…
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Rishi Sunak needs to learn from Keir Starmer’s ruthlessness
The Prime Minister needs to marginalise Boris Johnson as thoroughly as the Labour leader has Jeremy Corbyn.
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To succeed, Keir Starmer needs to be much more than “business friendly”
Labour should forge a new settlement that prioritises the common good over private profit.
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What the Tories forget about Sue Gray
No-one forced No 10 to party during Covid, nor to appoint her to investigate said parties.
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Weaponising Sue Gray’s Labour affiliation will not end well for the Tories
The civil servant is a shrewd choice as Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff – it raises the spectre of…
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Labour is finally getting in touch with its universalist streak
From free school meals to healthcare reform, the party is espousing a key tenet of the left.
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Sue Gray’s appointment as chief of staff is a coup for Keir Starmer
The recruitment of the feared civil servant is a signal of Labour’s determination to clean up politics.
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Keir Starmer is living in Liz Truss’s world
If the former PM’s ideals are going to live on in any form it is likely with Labour.
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PMQs: The two leaders are entering election mode
Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are feeling more confident after the past week.
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What Keir Starmer has learnt from the return of the German Social Democrats
To win back Red Wall voters, Labour needs a single word to define the party and its purpose. That word…
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Michael Gove’s speech could have been delivered by Keir Starmer
The Levelling Up Secretary’s address revealed an emerging consensus between Labour and the communitarian right.
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Does devolution really boost growth?
Keir Starmer wants the UK to have the fastest-growing economy in the G7. But does Labour have the plan to…
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Keir Starmer’s economic model isn’t Blairism – it’s ordoliberalism
The Labour leader’s emphasis on economic institutions resembles the philosophy behind Germany’s social market.
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