If he fails to get a grip on his government, Starmer’s five missions will become impossible

Ahead of its annual conference in Liverpool, a series of unforced errors has already put Labour on the back foot, writes Andrew Grice. Can the PM get his party back on track before it’s too late?

The PM has come under fire for accepting gifts from a Labour donor (PA)

For a party which won a stonking majority of 174 only two months ago, Labour’s annual conference starting this weekend would normally be a celebration. Yet Keir Starmer can’t allow more than a brief nod to his landslide victory, which already feels a long time ago.

Instead, he must use the Liverpool gathering to get his government back on track. In theory, Labour should be able to set a positive media agenda at the conference but it now needs to move on from revelations about Starmer’s £107,000 of freebies since 2019 and infighting among Downing Street aides, both of which have distracted the government.

Sue Gray, his chief of staff, should have ensured she did not earn more than the prime minister. Her lack of a political radar, coupled with Starmer’s similar background as a public servant rather than party political animal, has created an absence of political judgement at No 10.

What matters much more than Gray’s £170,000 salary is the constant stream of leaks, briefings and counterbriefings. It’s not political but personal. I’ve witnessed plenty of Downing Street feuds but never so early in a government’s life – they normally erupt when a PM is on the way out, not on the way in.

Some advisers think Gray’s position is “unsustainable”, with one telling me: “You have no idea how bad things are inside No 10.” Others defend Gray and think things can only get better when Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, departs in the new year on medical grounds.

As I reported here previously, there has been a longstanding tension between him and Gray, though Case allies deny he is responsible for the leaks. Starmer needs to get a grip, and fast. His claim that he is “completely in control” looked unconvincing.

Despite a solid list of early announcements, there hasn’t been enough in the government’s “first 100 days” plan about Starmer’s five missions and the change they will bring. The vacuum has been filled by distractions such as who paid for Starmer’s suits and glasses. I doubt he will accept any more such gifts.

He has a stronger case for watching football in an executive box now he is PM because the cost to the taxpayer of his security will be cheaper than if he sat in the stands – though his £8,750 box for one game at Arsenal will grate for many footy fans. (My ticket for the right north London team to support, Spurs, costs £1,200 – and that’s for a whole season.)

However, claims that Starmer faces a conflict of interest because the government is to legislate for a football regulator are wide of the mark; on that basis, ministers wouldn’t be allowed to cross the road.

Our right-dominated press has not allowed Starmer the brief post-election respite they gave Tony Blair in 1997, when even the Daily Mail was friendly for a while. In today’s social media age, the dance between media and politicians is increasingly frantic. But Labour has foolishly handed its critics ammunition with the freebies and the leaks; in the past week, it hardly looked like the stable government voters were promised.

I know Starmer is a man of integrity and that, thankfully, he is not Boris Johnson. Can you imagine Downing Street parties during the pandemic on Starmer’s watch, or him lying to parliament about them? Yet Starmer is sometimes too dismissive for his own good of what he regards as tittle-tattle and silly political games. He doesn’t seem to realise how bad his freebies will look in the Dog and Duck. Optics matter.

Starmer allies now admit privately he and Rachel Reeves have overdone the gloom ahead of next month’s Budget by warning of painful tax rises and spending cuts. Little wonder consumer confidence is down. There’s also a risk to business investment, undermining the number one mission – economic growth.

Some in Team Starmer now admit privately that, instead of winning a relatively easy argument that public services were hollowed out by the Tories, the government was too keen to copy George Osborne’s crude but successful “blame Labour” game in 2010.

Ministers overreached by trying to win a more difficult argument about debt and the economy being worse than they expected. The lesson: keep it simple. The political damage from the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance wasn’t worth the candle, showing there’s too much “Treasury think” and not enough of the cross-departmental mission-led government Starmer wanted.

The language of Starmer and his ministers at the Labour conference will be more upbeat; under a “Change Begins” banner, voters will be assured the eventual prize will be worth the sacrifices. I believe ministers are right to get the pain out of the way in the short term in the hope of reaping a long-term political benefit. They insist headlines about freebies and Gray will be long forgotten by the next election.

But to achieve that, Starmer will need to end the unforced errors. If he can’t, his missions will become missions impossible.