British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spent a sixth of his 17 months in office traveling abroad. This was reported by The Times, which noted that this is starting to provoke criticism from members of the government who believe that the leader of the ruling Labour Party should pay more attention to the country's domestic problems.
According to the article, since winning the election in July 2024, Starmer has made 37 trips to 44 countries, spending a total of two and a half months abroad. According to the newspaper, this is more than any other British prime minister who has traveled in a similar period. In less than 17 months, the prime minister has traveled more than 300 miles (482 km) per day. By comparison, Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2007, travelled almost half as much - 164 miles (263 km) a day.
The Times reported that cabinet members had urged Starmer, nicknamed "Never Here Keir", to delegate these responsibilities more often to his deputy David Lammy or to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. "He's brilliant abroad, but that doesn't do him any favours. Someone should tell him to spend a little more time at his desk," the newspaper quoted an unnamed minister as saying.
"Why is he always on a plane?" asked another government source. “It's nice to feel important, but you have to assert yourself at home.“
On 9 November, the “Sunday Times“ reported that Lammy had personally warned Starmer to limit his foreign travel.
According to an Ipsos poll, the results of which were published by the “Daily Telegraph“ on 28 October, Starmer has the highest negative rating of the ten politicians whose performance was assessed, with the exception of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. She shares last place with the Prime Minister. Only 20% of those surveyed approve of the Labour Party leader's performance, while 60% have a negative opinion. For Reeves, the ratio was 15% and 55%. This brings the negative ratings of both politicians to minus 40 points. The poll showed that for the first time, Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing populist party Reform UK, has overtaken the current prime minister as the politician most Britons would like to see at the helm of government.