What is Keir Starmer Afraid Of?

As the Labour leader heads towards Downing Street, the previously ruthless politician is becoming increasingly captured by his own timidity

There was an interesting piece in The Guardian this week by Tony Blair’s former political secretary John McTernan in which he set out what is becoming an increasingly worrying characteristic of the Labour leader.

“Or nearly everything. Labour currently lacks one vital quality: confidence. While heading for a victory bigger than Tony Blair’s landslide of 1997, the party appears to be too frightened to fight. Whenever the Tories do something profoundly amoral or un-British – such as telling refugees to “fuck off”, as their vice-chair, Lee Anderson, recently did – Labour seems scared of going on the attack…. But, like showbiz, successful electoral politics requires swagger, plus a desire to run towards the sound of gunfire, not away from it.”

This criticism of Starmer has long been a preserve of the left of the party, but is increasingly finding a place on the centre and right of the party too.

There’s a good reason for that. On almost every issue - from the economy, to immigration, to the environment - the Labour leader’s defining trait has become his tendency to run away from any substantive policy fight with the Conservative Party.

There are multiple recent examples of this - most notably Starmer’s abandonment of his flagship pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green energy.

This decision, which came despite polls showing climate change is now a top three issue for most voters, was closely followed by his equally bizarre decision to throw London Mayor Sadiq Khan under the bus over plans to expand pollution charges in the capital.

However, it is his decision this week to water down Labour’s pledge to increase workers’ rights which is the most baffling. At a time when public demand for improved pay and conditions is at a recent historical high, the party of organised Labour instead appears to be heading in the opposite direction.

So what’s really going on here and why does the Labour leader increasingly appear so scared of his own skin?