Starmer saying he is working class isn't what Labour need - when will politicians learn?
The prime minister is under performing in areas the working classes hold dearly and they won't be fooled
In need of a lift after a difficult week, Sir Keir Starmer took a leaf out of the playbook from nearly every PM who has come before him… Stating how working class he is.
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Until now, Sir (only the most working class of us have a knighthood, after all) Keir has perhaps been too vague about just how humble his backstory has been. Repeating over and over that his father was a toolmaker has clearly just been missed voters, so this week it was time for something more on the nose.
“It is utter nonsense to suggest that everybody gets a fair chance in life, utter nonsense. I feel very strongly about this,” he told the party faithful on Monday.
“I’m in that Cabinet as Prime Minister, having come from a working-class background to be Prime Minister of this country. But that’s the exception, that is not the rule.”
The speech was well-received by those who saw it, with Ed Miliband telling LBC afterwards that the passion showed a “different Keir”. The real Keir, good old banter, pint of lager and packet of crisps Keir. Legendary Oxford-educated, former lawyer, MP for St Pancras, earning a base salary of £172,000 a year, Keir. Really as working class as you can get.
It’s obvious, really, why Sir Keir has made this move. It worked so well for Rishi Sunak to say he had to slum it, watching TV without a Sky subscription growing up. Starmer’s predecessor also definitely wasn’t mocked over old footage where he said how many working class friends he had, only to backtrack. Other famous working class Tories include John Major visiting Brixton, William Hague wearing his everyman baseball cap (with his name on it), and the pre-Parliament Jacob Rees-Mogg telling Ali G that he is a “commoner, like everyone else”.
What Sir Keir’s speech to Labour really needed was another Sir, David Beckham (he was inexplicably at Davos, so why not…) leaning around the door, telling the PM to “be honest” about his class standing in 2026.
There has to be a general acceptance that once you become a politician, especially prime minister, even if you were working class one - people are going to see you as the elite. You can play the man of the people card, or even, in Kemi Badenoch’s case, go and complete a shift in McDonald’s, but step through the Parliament door and you are past the point of no return. So don’t fight it. Accept you are part of the establishment now - and, if you are serious about concerns for the working class, then show that with governance and policy.
YouGov has found that housing, welfare benefits and tax (all working class concerns) are three of the four areas that they feel Sir Keir has underperformed on since taking government. And to where Labour have gone wrong, post July 2024, top responses are; “hitting pensioners / the poor”, “changes to winter fuel payments”, and “prioritising the wrong things”.
Maybe Sir Keir’s attempt to drop down in social standing will see Labour move up in the polls - or maybe politicians should attempt to be a class act and not perform a class act.
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William Mata is a writer and SEO editor for LBC.
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