Officials close to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are questioning his leadership qualities and criticizing his lack of readiness to carry out complex tasks, Politico reported, citing sources.
“A lot of people think Keir Starmer is a good guy who can't do his job, but they're wrong. He's a fool who can't do his job“, the newspaper quoted a source close to the Labour Party as saying.
It is noted that staff describe Starmer as a person incapable of leading a team due to his desire to avoid conflict, characterizing him as unmotivated, lacking energy and indifferent to people, with a disregard for political strategy. Some believe Starmer is simply unprepared for the challenging job of prime minister, in part because he spends so much time out of his office.
Politico points out that the prime minister does not like to make difficult decisions or act as a mediator, and excessive delegation of authority amid high staff turnover has prevented him from building a reliable team to deal with the challenges facing the cabinet. As a result of the recent scandals, officials have lost trust in Starmer and are increasingly comparing him to former prime minister Boris Johnson: “His team does not trust him because he misleads other people.“
Starmer has previously called it inexcusable that he was not informed of all the details surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson, who was friends with convicted American financier Jeffrey Epstein, as ambassador to the United States. Earlier, it was reported that the British Foreign Office had insisted on Mandelson's appointment despite him failing security checks. The head of the diplomatic service, Ollie Robbins, was then fired, and opposition parties began calling for Starmer to resign on the grounds that he had misled members of parliament. Last September, the prime minister said that the appointment had been made in strict accordance with all procedures.