Keir Starmer ‘had no plan’ after taking office and his government is already defined by ‘drift and dysfunction’, insiders claim

Labour insiders have accused Sir Keir Starmer of having ‘no plan’ after entering Downing Street and presiding over a government of ‘drift and dysfunction’.

A searing analysis of the Prime Minister’s struggles during his first months in office has been published a left-leaning commentator, quoting cabinet members’ frustrations about the new regime’s performance so far.

It follows a series of scandals and setbacks rocking Sir Keir’s administration since he won a landslide general election victory over Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives on July 4. 

Jason Cowley has spent the past 16 years as editor of the left-wing New Statesman magazine, having previously written regularly for the Labour-supporting Observer newspaper.

Now he has spoken out about what he says a cabinet member described to him as ‘drift and dysfunction’ since Labour came to power after the general election.

He quoted party sources as making stinging comparisons between Sir Keir’s approach to government and how former Labour PM Tony Blair, his chief of staff Jonathan Powell and Chancellor Gordon Brown got started after triumphing in 1997.

The new PM has been branded ‘two-tier Keir’ by critics, after hefty prison sentences handed down to people involved in this summer’s nationwide riots in response to the fatal stabbings of three girls at a dance class in Southport, Merseyside.

Yet in the new analysis, the stern response by the authorities to those outbreaks of disorder has been seen as a rare – yet brief – positive for the new government led by Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions.

The Labour government’s first months in office have been dominated by rows over its handling of the economy including the tax-raising Budget in November by Chancellor Rachel Reeves

Sir Keir’s Deputy Prime Minister is Angela Rayner, who has been criticised over a mooted overhaul of planning rules to make it easier to build new homes

Cowley writes in today’s Sunday Times that one Labour veteran told him: ‘The riots saved Keir, a bit like Gordon and the financial crisis.

‘In 1997, Jonathan Powell had a plan for the first 100 days of government, and then a plan for the next 100 days. But this lot had no plan.’ 

Cowley himself added that ‘if they did have a plan, it was incoherent and undermined by factionalism’ – with disputes between Sir Keir’s initial choice of chief of staff, ex-civil servant Sue Gray and the party’s election campaign guru Morgan McSweeney who took over her role in October this year.

A cabinet member is quoted as saying the first half-year of Sir Keir’s Labour government has been defined by ‘drift and dysfunction’.

Cowley added: ‘At a Christmas gathering of lobby correspondents at No. 10 on Wednesday evening, Starmer joked about his appalling personal ratings and Labour’s unpopularity. But this should be no laughing matter.

‘We are living in an era of extraordinary politics and great electoral volatility and shocks. Despite commanding a huge majority in the House of Commons, Labour is inspiring no one, least of all its own MPs.’

Sir Keir entered Downing Street with a 156-seat majority – yet having won just 33.7 per cent of the national vote, while 40 per cent of the electorate stayed away.

The new PM swiftly himself and senior colleagues embroiled in ‘sleaze’ allegations, over freebies from Labour donor Lord Alli – including for designer suits and trendy glasses gifted to Sir Keir himself.

Former civil servant was Sir Keir Starmer’s first choice as his chief of staff after becoming Prime Minister but she was ousted in October – and has now been nominated for a peerage

And and cabinet ministers including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson also accepted handouts of tickets to US popstar Taylor Swift’s sell-out gigs this summer at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Labour’s general election celebrations had barely been tidied up when the new government suffered its first backbench rebellion in a vote on child benefits, just a fortnight after coming to power. 

Seven of Sir Keir’s MPs defied the party whip to vote for an SNP amendment which would have scrapped a cap on benefits to cover just two children per family – and found themselves suspended from Labour.

They included John McDonnell, who had served as shadow chancellor under Sir Keir’s Labour predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, and ex-leadership candidate rival Rebecca Long-Bailey – a former flatmate of now-Deputy PM Angela Rayner.

Ms Rayner, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary, has faced criticism from Green Belt campaigners for a so-called ‘bulldozer blitz’ which would overhaul planning rules to help build 1.5million new homes.

Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves – the UK’s first female Chancellor – was issuing doom-laden warnings of what she called a £22billion financial ‘black hole’ left in the Treasury’s coffers by Rishi Sunak’s defeated Conservative government.

And her much-trailed Budget which finally arrived on October 30 has alarmed businesses and charities nationwide by ramping up employer contributions to National insurance, in a bid to raise £25billion.

She had already alarmed many by excluding the majority of pensioners from being eligible for the winter fuel allowance.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, pictured at an investment round tackle in Downing Street last month, has been condemned for her tax-raising Budget

Government ministers have also come under fire for accepting free tickets to see Taylor Swift at Wembley this summer – Sir Keir is seen here with his wife Victoria at one of the gigs

And there have been mass protests in Westminster by farmers – including TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson – over changes increasing the amount charged in inheritance tax on their estates.

Sir Keir’s administration has also faced criticism for agreeing above-inflation for trade unions in efforts to stave off strikes by railway workers, teachers and junior doctors.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh resigned last month after it was revealed she pleaded guilty in 2014 to fraud by misrepresentation relating to misleading police, over the alleged theft of a mobile phone she later found she still had.

In other blows for the government, the Bank of England last week revealed economic growth had stalled to zero per cent amid fears the country is on the brink of tipping into recession.

Sir Keir and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall were also accused of ‘betraying’ Waspi women after refusing to compensate 3.8million people hit by increases in the state pension age – despite backing the cause when campaigning.

And he has faced new ‘cronyism’ allegations over the announcement of 30 proposed new Labour peers, including Ms Gray as well as former ministers and MPs Luciana Berger, Kevin Brennan, Lyn Brown, Thangam Debbonaire and Julie Elliott.

There are also mooted elevations to the House of Lords for ex-Labour Party general secretary David Evans and Mary Bousted, the former joint general secretary of the NEU education union. 

Yet despite the apparent barrage of setbacks, when facing Parliament’s liaision committee last Thursday Sir Keir insisted there was nothing he would do differently from his first six months in power.

Farmers have staged mass demos in central London in opposition to proposed changes to inheritance tax rules unveiled by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves

Reform UK leader and Clacton MP Nigel Farage was among those joining the protests

Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier, a Labour MP, asked: ‘Is there anything that you would do differently if you were starting out now, knowing what you know?’

The PM replied: ‘No. We have had to do tough stuff, we are getting on with it and I am very pleased to be delivering from a position of power, rather than going around the division lobbies losing every night – I have had too much of that.’

Yet Cowley’s analysis today forecasts more tough times ahead, and further surges in support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party which won five seats at the general election and in a recent poll had backing from 19 per cent of voters, closing in on Labour’s 25 per cent and the Conservatives’ 28 per cent. 

The commentator concluded: ‘If the struggles of the government’s first six months in power are replicated in the next six months, the populist right will be further emboldened and unrest among Labour MPs will grow.’