Just over a year into Keir Starmer’s premiership, things are not looking well for the former human rights lawyer.
His term so far has been characterized by scandals around lobbying and by the rise of the far right both electorally and on the streets, not to mention spending cuts that many of his backbenchers opposed and a chronic inability to contain dissent over British involvement in Israel’s genocide.
To make matters worse, the Office for National Statistics has just announced higher-than-expected inflation. Sir Keir just cannot seem to catch a break.
These crises, both external and intrinsic to his leadership, have left Starmer’s approval ratings in the gutter. The press, and reportedly parts of the Parliamentary Labour Party, are beginning to whisper that he might have to go. Short of actually being removed, you’d be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much further he could fall.
Unfortunately for the prime minister, there still is. Labour retains a formal link with several unions, which gives them a say in internal party matters in return for millions in donations, so these unions can have major effects on the internal politics of the Labour Party and its ability to fight elections.
As such, the election for the general secretary of UNISON, Britain’s biggest union. could trigger Starmer’s next crisis. It comes amid wider rumblings of discontent among Labour’s union backers.
Such is Starmer’s unpopularity that the UNISON election is being fought partly in terms of who can effectively distance themselves from the prime minister. In…
Auteur: Olly Haynes
