Keir Starmer stumbles as he nears 100 days as U.K. prime minister

His dramas may be mild on the scale of recent British political scandals — compared to Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose economic plan triggered global financial turmoil and prompted her resignation after 45 days in office, or Boris Johnson, booted out for his prevarications about pandemic parties. But it’s remarkable that after Starmer led such a stunning electoral victory, his shine has worn off so quickly.

Polling by More in Common, a British think tank, found that Starmer’s personal approval rating has plunged 45 points since the July election, and Labour is now just one point ahead of the Conservatives — who three months ago suffered their worst defeat in parliamentary history.

“There’s just not a willingness amongst the public to cut the government that much slack, which means that even stuff that might seem relatively minor can have a significant impact,” said Luke Tryl, director of More in Common.

Starmer has shrugged off the criticisms as “water off a duck’s back” and argued that his government has done a lot in its early days. Labour has announced plans for a state-owned energy company and lifted a ban on onshore wind. The United Kingdom has ceded sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel. He has already been to the White House twice.

Starmer has laid the groundwork for some “tough choices” ahead, blaming the financial “black hole” left by his predecessors. But beyond an unpopular cut to winter fuel subsidies for retirees, it is not yet clear how he plans to get out of the hole.

During Wednesday’s edition of Prime Minister’s Questions — the weekly, gladiatorial clash between the prime minister and the opposition — Conservative leader and former prime minister Rishi Sunak tried to press Starmer for more clarity on his government’s upcoming budget, but the questions were batted away.

Some political analysts say the budget announcement planned for the end of October is coming too late — that waiting nearly four months to detail his economic plans may have been an “own goal,” harming his own interests.

“Prime ministers in the past have regretted not doing enough early on. The time to spend political capital is when you have it,” said Martin Baxter, chief executive of Electoral Calculus, a political consulting firm. “Otherwise it just leaches away, and it’s never going to be as high as it was right after the election. That’s the moment, and they didn’t take it.”

The latest blow to Starmer’s fledgling premiership came over the weekend when Sue Gray, his chief of staff, abruptly resigned after an internal power struggle and a fight over her pay. Gray earned 170,000 pounds (more than $222,000) a year in the role, which was 3,000 pounds (nearly $4,000) more than the prime minister earns, but less than other British civil servants.

Starmer has also been dogged by headlines about accepting gifts of fancy clothes, designer glasses and those Taylor Swift tickets. After weeks of bad publicity, Starmer paid back more than 6,000 pounds ($7,850) worth of donations and vowed to change the rules on what ministers are allowed to accept.

People didn’t vote for Starmer because he is charismatic — he is not a flamboyant politician like Johnson. But that may be precisely why the scandal gained traction with voters: It clashed with Starmer’s image as an uncompromising, squeaky-clean politician.

It is still very early days in Starmer’s premiership. There is no sense that the ship is sinking, and Starmer can rely on a comfortable Labour majority in Parliament to push forward his government’s agenda.

And yet, Labour won only about a third of the vote share, meaning that it doesn’t have the same kind of protection that previous governments have had to help weather storms.

“The flip side of having a volatile electorate is that it can turn the other way if things start to feel better,” Tryl said.