Something shifted in British public opinion this weekend.
Unlike the last time Labour defeated a long-running Conservative government, there were no street parties or jubilant scenes to welcome the new Labour government.partyIt took place at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1997. But a weight seems to have been lifted as the new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, walks up the steps of Downing Street, demonstrating a new type of leadership and breaking with party tradition by appointing a number of experts to his incoming ministerial posts.
In these tough financial times, people aren’t expecting miracles, but they are giving change a chance. As one neighbor said with a wry smile, “This is a start.”
In the UK, the Conservative Party led by Boris Johnson has been in power for four consecutive terms with a majority of 80 seats.2019Less than five years later, a Labour government was elected in a landslide victory. But does this victory give the Democrats hope that they can beat the right and win a landslide victory?
When Keir Starmer was elected leader in April 2020 and I joined his team as executive director for policy, the Labour Party was wracked by its fourth defeat and a tough time under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Undaunted by the scale of the challenge, Starmer set out to transform the Labour Party from the political extremes to the centre of British politics, making it electable again. He made it his mission to return Labour to being a party that serves the working class. This meant speaking for the millions of working class people and communities who felt abandoned by the party Labour was founded to represent. In doing so, he aimed to win a majority in Parliament and change Britain for their benefit.
Starmer is out of the partyAnti-SemitismHe made addressing the Labour Party’s embarrassment a top priority, and his zero-tolerance stance put him at odds with former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who served as his parliamentary leader.ReclusiveFor downplaying anti-Semitism in his public dealings with equality watchdogs.
Starmer took action when MPs and party members were behaving below standard. The policy platform was changed to reflect the issues that mattered most to the public rather than the party, and to provide fiscally responsible policies on the cost of living and the NHS. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, as Labour was lagging far behind the Conservatives at the time most of the reforms were made, but they were necessary if the party was to win the trust of voters again.
Undoubtedly, the Conservative Party played a leading role in its own downfall: anti-Conservative sentiment grew, many senior ministers lost their seats, and strategic anti-Conservative voting dispersed votes to other parties.
The Conservative Party continued to demonstrate to the public that it puts its own interests above those of its voters. “Partygate” ScandalToTruss/Kwarteng Mini BudgetFormer Chancellor Rishi Sunak caused the market and mortgages to soarD-Day MemorialHe is there to give news interviews for the Conservative election campaign, but there is no doubt that Labour has been both the architect of its own success and the beneficiary of the Conservative decline.
For the Democrats, a Labour victory gives hope that a centre-left party can win, and win big, even with elements of incumbency. The reality is that in both the UK and the US there are millions of working-class voters who feel that the political parties have abandoned them. The Democrats are not only losing white working-class Americans to the Republicans, they are also losing black and Hispanic working-class Americans.
Starmer’s success shows that it is possible to get significant support in the places needed to secure a majority, but parties must look at politics and policies from their own perspective. Of course, both parties need a larger electoral coalition to win, but that coalition can only be achieved if it puts the interests of working-class voters first.
Progressive Policy Institute’s Campaign for Working AmericansThe , led by Tim Ryan, is one example of such an effort. (Full disclosure: I am the director of the Center-Left Renewal Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.)
Moving Labour to the centre was a key part of Starmer’s strategy, with fiscally responsible policies that promote investment and economic prosperity, but it is centrism that defines our country’s new challenge, not a middle ground between two extremes.
This new centrism of aggressive industrial policy driven by private sector innovation gives us hope for the future of our party, but only if it delivers lasting change for the workers who need it.
Starmer has made immigration control and management a political priority, an approach that has not been universally popular, but is necessary to show that the centre-left has better answers on immigration than the populist right. He has worked quickly with the new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to Border Patrol CommandTo crack down on illegal ship traffic in the English Channel.
Labour sees its victory as a rejection of the Conservatives, an endorsement of Starmer’s reformed Labour party and a chance to change Britain for the better.
of Transatlantic Dialogue The conflict between the Democratic Party and the Labor Party has been rekindled by a new generation of politicians, strategists and policy experts. This dialogue could help drive this victory and propel the Democratic Party forward.
Claire Ainslie is director of the centre-left Renewal Project at the Progressive Policy Institute. She served as executive director of policy for UK Labour leader Keir Starmer from 2020 to 2022 and is the author of The New York Times. “The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds, and Votes”
