Joe Biden Shows Keir Starmer the Path to Victory
The U.K. Labour leader needs to rebuild his party’s coalition with working-class voters and make a clean break from left-wing identity politics.
Putting the squeeze on the hard left.
Photographer: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images EuropeThe election of Joe Biden, a determinedly moderate U.S. centrist, is of more than symbolic importance to Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s opposition Labour party. Locked in battle with leftist militants — the stubborn residue of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, who was resoundingly defeated by Boris Johnson in an election a year ago — Starmer aims to emulate the president-elect’s achievement of fending off the radical wing of the Democratic Party to turn defeat into success.
The parallels go further. Neither Biden nor Starmer was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and both men know what it’s like to cope with misfortune. Biden’s father suffered severe financial setbacks in the 1950s, and was often unemployed. Later, the young Joe was afflicted by family tragedy.