Keir Starmer, No. 10’s Ringo Starr, Needs a Two-Album Deal

Keir Starmer is Parliament’s Ringo Starr. He may not be the best drummer in the world, but he’s got the best band. After winning a landslide majority, what the Labour leader needs next is the equivalent of a two-album deal — basing his political strategy on the assumption that he’ll win a second term, giving him 10 years rather than just five to reshape a nation damaged by 14 years of Tory misrule and still suffering the aftershocks of Brexit.

Starmer lacks the charisma of Tony Blair or the magnetism of Boris Johnson. Apart from professing his love of football and asserting his working-class “my father was a tool maker” credentials, his campaign has left the electorate largely ignorant of his personality. But what he does have after last week’s election is a thumping majority that even the most skeptical among Britain’s commentariat must acknowledge gives him a mandate to make good on his promise to change the UK.