The first 100 days of Starmer’s government
5 July Keir Starmer delivers first speech as Prime Minister
3 min read
One hundred days might not seem long. But you can fit Liz Truss’ premiership into it twice, and still have a weekend to spare.
Labour is perfectly well aware that Truss – now enjoying a well-earned retirement – was one of the architects of their history-making landslide. So they know that while 100 days is nowhere near long enough to make a government, it is more than enough time to break one.
Keir Starmer has won big on a small vote share, with some high-profile losses to Greens and Independents, as well as some close shaves in formerly safe seats. Labour’s majority is large, but its MPs’ majorities are small. Public support cannot be taken for granted. But Labour is in government now, and for the first time in a decade and a half it gets to shape events, not follow them. The first few days, weeks and months require bold action, a robust narrative and a sense of purpose. Labour has to move fast and heal things.
They have neither 1997’s growing economy nor 2010’s mandate for cuts
So, what can we expect between now and mid- October? Plenty of activity has been strongly signalled, or can be worked out by anyone with a bit of common sense and a grasp of history.
There will be ministerial and staff appointments, including swearing in 411 Labour MPs, some of whom only began to dream they might win when Rishi Sunak came home early from D-Day. A Nato summit, and other foreign trips. Early announcements on planning, energy, scrapping the Rwanda scheme, and more. New mission boards. Sitting down to try to resolve the junior doctors’ strike. An investment summit. Major policy reviews on areas where the manifesto was as close to silent as makes no odds. A King’s Speech: we already know what will be in it. A Budget which will put into effect some of Labour’s pledges, but which will also, we can be certain, include some surprises, not all of them nice. A triumphant party conference, which will be scrutinised for early signs of hubris.
The more interesting features of the first 100 days are the things you can’t predict with so much confidence.
There will surely, surely, not be the equivalent of the Liam Byrne “no money” letter; but how will Labour try to dramatise the mess they have been left? How will they manage the fact that, while the country has voted for change, they have neither 1997’s growing economy nor 2010’s mandate for cuts?
How will they handle Sue Gray’s ‘shit list’ – the risk register of immediate crises, from prison overcrowding to council deficits? Will there be an early scandal, and how will Starmer handle it? How quickly will hundreds of MPs who have been unavoidably passed over for ministerial jobs start to get antsy? Will anyone rebel over anything, and if so who, and over what?
Plenty of the defining features of the new Parliament will not be set in the first 100 days. We may not find out who will succeed Rishi Sunak and seek to take the Tories back into government. We will not know who the next United States president will be – a relationship that will shape the Starmer premiership. Unless there is an early by-election, the new government will face no electoral tests.
As Starmer said on the steps of Downing Street: “Changing a country is not like flicking a switch.” But in our system, changing a government is; in 100 days we will know plenty about the Labour government’s tone, temperament and ways of working. We will know its biggest priorities. And we will know whether Keir Starmer has managed to outlast Liz Truss.
Tom Hamilton, former head of research and senior adviser to the Labour Party
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