Too much bad news and scandal: British Labor government is already in serious trouble - despite its triumphant victory about three months ago. Will it be able to make up for its mistakes?
No British Prime Minister-elect would probably want his first 100 days in Downing Street to teach him how not to govern. However, this is exactly the situation Keir Starmer finds himself in just three months after his triumphant election victory.
To talk about a false start, however, would be a serious underestimation of the situation, commented the German public television ARD. Starmer's approval rating is at a record low, and his Labor party is now just one percentage point ahead of the Tories, author Annette Dietert points out.
Such a difficult start was to be expected – especially as we know in what a disastrous state the Tories had left the public treasury. And the strong headwind from the Tory-dominated media against a Labor government was also predictable.
However, the fact that the government itself is giving its opponents so much ammunition to fire at it so soon after Labour's landslide election victory is unprecedented in recent British history, German public media said.< /p>
Too much bad news
It all started when Keir Starmer and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, for weeks bombarded Tory austerity-weary Britons with forecasts so bleak for the country's finances that the tiny glimmer of hope for better times, which appeared in July with the change of government, was nipped in the bud after only a few weeks.
Starmer had promised to clean up the Tories' empty and broken promises and everyone expected the new administration to tell the truth. But he has not yet explained to the British people how Labor plans to lead the country out of the crisis and where they want to go.
Instead of talking openly and committedly about issues such as new rapprochement with the EU or the eased youth exchange offered to them by Brussels, Labor has given the impression of lacking a vision for the future and has quickly found itself embroiled in bitter power struggles in Downing Street. Details of the disputes in the closest inner circle around Starmer leaked to the British press almost daily, ARD recalls.
Vacuum filled with scandals
After just three months, the British prime minister had no choice but to fire his chief of staff, Sue Grey, the woman who was supposed to ensure that his campaign promises to renew the country in a sensible and morally sound way would be fulfilled.
Instead of charting a clear course for where Labor wanted to take the country, Starmer's team created a vacuum that the British press filled daily with alleged scandals related to the new government. For example, Starmer and some of his ministers were revealed to have accepted party donations from sponsors for suits, dresses and designer glasses worth tens of thousands of pounds.
This is not necessarily illegal as the donations in question are officially declared and the sums are quite modest compared to the multi-million pound Tory corruption scandals. But you can't run an election campaign as a "party of clean hands" and at the same time allowing party donations so easily to be used against you by a predictably hostile press.
Farage rubs his hands in contentment
It is wrong to perceive this as a manifestation of naivety or a political mistake. What is happening is fatal and above all it helps the right-wing populists around Nigel Farage to gain even more power. His mantra that all major parties are equally corrupt now seems to be vindicated. The headwinds that the new government aloneó has created, are not at all a good request that it can lead the country out of the crisis – with a clear mind and a firm hand, comments ARD.
This is not helped by the fact that the Tories seem to be dismantling themselves in opposition. Both candidates, who could succeed Rishi Sunak in November, are part of the right-wing populist wing of the party. Both Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick will move the party further to the far right. As well as making a Tory return to power extremely unlikely in the foreseeable future, it could further strengthen the right-wing populist movement around Farage.
Challenge for Starmer
After 100 days in Downing Street, Starmer must immediately correct his course and make clear where he is going.
It's not too late for that. At the end of October, the finance minister is about to present the new draft budget, and this is an ideal opportunity for the government to compensate with a clear vision for the mistakes of the first 100 days of its administration. If it fails, the next few years could turn into a time of constant upheaval and chronic instability. And about 3 months ago, the British voted so clearly against exactly that.