Labour under Keir Starmer suffering from ‘lack of authenticity’, Len McCluskey says

Labour under Keir Starmer is suffering from a “lack of authenticity” and direction, Len McCluskey has claimed as he challenged the leader to “honour” left-wing pledges he committed to 12 months ago to offer a credible alternative to the Conservatives.

In a scathing assessment of the Labour leader’s first year, the general secretary of Unite – one of Labour’s biggest financial backers – said Sir Keir’s personal ratings were “plummeting” and suggested voters were unsure who the party speaks for.

Writing in The Independent, the union chief said: “Focus groups show that at best his Labour Party is seen as dull, absent of convictions or presence, at worst opportunistic, only following the political wind after it has blown, rarely making the weather.”

Citing a complaint by the Conservative Willie Whitelaw that Labour under Harold Wilson at the 1970 election campaign was going around the country “stirring up apathy”, Mr McCluskey went on: “Today it is true”.

“Turmoil engulfs constituencies at the sharp end of unwarranted and undemocratic interference from on high, just as we head to the biggest day of voting since the general election on 6 May,” the key ally of the Corbyn project said.

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“Starmer would have to be living in a cave to be unaware of the concerns about the direction, or lack of it, of his Labour Party and the consequent disaffection this has caused in voters.”

He later added: “The danger is that voters can smell it – an identity confusion, a lack of authenticity. They know that this is a party unsure about who it now is and who it now speaks for.”

In recent weeks Sir Keir has sought to attribute polls showing a widening gap between Labour and the Conservatives to a “vaccine bounce” – reflecting the relative success of the UK’s vaccination programme. He also admitted that he as leader and the party have “got to do better” to win over support.

The remarks from Mr McCluskey underscore how the left has become increasingly at odds with Labour’s high command over the party’s direction almost one year on from Sir Keir’s landslide victory in the 2020 leadership contest.

A key point of frustration has been the 10 pledges made during Sir Keir’s leadership campaign, which built on his predecessor’s policy platform. Critics have hit out at certain commitments being abandoned, including EU free movement, while the party’s prevarication over whether to support increases in corporation tax also provoked a backlash ahead of the chancellor’s Budget. 

Other dividing lines have concentrated on the so-called spy cops bill and the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the parliamentary party over his response to the equalities watchdog antisemitism inquiry – a decision Sir Keir has stood by.

Raising the pledges during the leadership contest, Mr McCluskey added in his article: “They [voters] may not much like Johnson or his right-wing cabal, but really they ask themselves, where’s the alternative?

“Fortunately for Keir he has that alternative. The ten policies he stood on, policies popular with the public, spoke to hope, renewal, the reversal of inequality and a better country for our people as we build back out of Covid. Those policies, building on the best of Labour’s values, would put the pressure on the Tories if powerfully advocated.

“In the coming days, Keir should look again at his pledges. Understand that they got him elected, that they told people who he was and what he stood for – and that he is expected to honour them.”

Reflecting on Sir Keir’s first 12 months, Andrew Scattergood, the co-chair of the Momentum organisation, said his initial hopes for Sir Keir’s leadership were dashed rapidly, telling The Independent: “Where we are now with the polling, his first year has been completely substandard and very disappointing.”

He added: “I think people are – not just us on the left of the party – looking at him and thinking: ‘What do you stand for?’ I don’t know the answer to that.”

Disillusioned with Labour’s direction, the organisation has recently launched a ballot of members to decide which key policies Momentum will support at Labour’s autumn conference. In total, 32 motions have been put forward, including a £15 minimum wage, a universal basic income, a wealth tax, and proportional representation. The organisation will throw its weight behind eight of the most popular among its membership.

James Schneider, the former director of strategic communications for Mr Corbyn, said he had “no idea” what was meant by “Starmerism”, adding: “Starmerism was pitched as 80 per cent of Corbynism plus competence and winning. But that’s not what we’ve had.”

“In policy terms it’s not clear, there hasn’t been clear dividing lines with the government. I don’t know what their politics are really, other than tone. There’s a tone that they want to take, which is kind of grown-ups in charge, bossy managerialism, which I don’t think is particularly attractive, but it is what it is. Maybe it’ll work. At the moment it’s very, very poorly defined.”

Veteran left-winger Jon Lansman, who helped run Rebecca Long-Bailey’s leadership bid, said that internal polling from the campaign showed that nearly half of the people who supported Mr Corbyn in 2015 and again in 2016 were supporting Sir Keir. “I think most of those people are now very unhappy and that does not bode well,” he told The Independent.

Mr Lansman said Sir Keir had a “very hard” job in the circumstances of the pandemic, with interactions between advisers and the shadow cabinet being curtailed, but added: “It has been a bad year, both for Keir but also for the Labour Party.”

But other wings of Labour also praised Sir Keir’s efforts during his first 12 months at the helm, claiming he had “exceeded expectations” in the challenging circumstances of the pandemic. They suggested that progress has also been made rebuilding the party from the disastrous 2019 general election, which resulted in the Tories’ biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher’s 1987 victory.

Among those to offer a staunch defence, Neil Kinnock, the Labour leader between 1983 and 1992, told The Independent: “In a politically unprecedented year, especially for an opposition, Keir has been consistent, coherent and firm in his challenge of the government and in his leadership of Labour.

“He has shown innate qualities of maturity and common sense that are a vital contrast with joker Johnson’s circus acts.”

Lord Kinnock added: “They are a strong base from which to generate and project his developing practical policies for security in a time when so many people and communities are faced with present and future personal, economic and national insecurities. Britain wants decent government and decency in government. Day by day, Keir is demonstrating that he’ll provide both.”

And former deputy leader Tom Watson, who resigned as an MP ahead of the 2019 election, said: “I think I should say most people do not understand how it is impossible to lead the Labour Party in current times.

“I think he’s done an excellent job. He’s far exceeded expectations of where [Labour] would be after a year.

“Voters are still getting to know him as a new leader, but I think what they’ve seen in the first year they like. They see decency, they see integrity, they see seriousness, they see ability. They are now looking to him in a different light. We all know that’s a long journey back from the election.

“We took a near knock-out blow at the [2019] election,” Mr Watson added. “People rejected our leader; they rejected our manifesto and they rejected us all over the country. So, I think one year in he should be very satisfied that he sort of stemmed that haemorrhage of support.”

Deploying the stock phrase used by Sir Keir and the shadow cabinet when quizzed about Labour’s chances of electoral victory in 2024 – of it being a “mountain to climb” – the former deputy leader added: “It’s possible because at the last election, it was an unexpected election where there was very little confidence in our leader at that election.

“A lot of voters voted for what they saw as the least worst option – they weren’t particularly wedded to the Conservative programme and therefore I think there could be more volatility in the next election than people expect. One year in, so far so good.”