Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at Tony Blair’s critique of his government, writing a lengthy Substack post in which he claims to have been “vindicated” by the results of his policies. The prime minister’s essay, almost 3,000 words long, rejects Blair’s accusations that Labour lacks vision and insists he has “got the big political choices right”.
Starmer concedes that his government needed “a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024” on economic growth, defence, Europe and energy. He admits mistakes over the winter fuel payment and raising national insurance for businesses, and accepts that the early mood music was “too negative”. However, he remains unrepentant about Ed Miliband’s net zero agenda despite internal pressure to rethink opposition to new North Sea drilling.
The prime minister’s intervention follows a 5,700-word essay by Blair and a 1,500-word riposte from Andy Burnham, who also took a swipe at Starmer. Burnham said “mainstream politics hasn’t delivered answers”. Starmer’s essay was padded with the familiar roll-call of government achievements that ministers are ordered to mention in every interview.
Critics note that Starmer’s prospectus is less meaty than Blair’s, and that the essays largely avoid difficult trade-offs on tax and spending, defence funding, the triple lock on pensions, social care, and university funding. The debate has been dubbed an “essay crisis” for Labour, highlighting the lack of a battle of ideas before the 2024 election.
Some observers question whether the calibre of today’s leaders matches that of previous generations. Fifty years ago, Labour leadership candidates included Denis Healey, Tony Benn, Roy Jenkins, Michael Foot, Anthony Crosland and James Callaghan. Today’s possible runners are Starmer, Burnham, Streeting, Miliband and Angela Rayner.
