Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer must urgently and consistently champion his government's accomplishments or risk his party being 'crucified' by critics focusing solely on its mistakes, warns Associate Editor Kevin Maguire.
The Monty Python Lesson for Starmer's Labour
Drawing a parallel with the iconic Monty Python's Life of Brian scene, Maguire suggests Starmer needs to reformulate the question 'What have the Romans ever done for us?' into a compelling narrative of his government's work. The columnist argues that without this proactive storytelling, the Prime Minister risks becoming 'toast' and dragging the party down with him, amid signs the electorate may be concluding he is a 'terminal dud'.
What Has Labour Done For Us?
Maguire lists a series of achievements since Labour's July 2024 election victory that he believes the party must highlight. These include: increased NHS funding to cut waiting lists, the introduction of school free breakfast clubs, a youth guarantee jobs scheme, and action on affordable housing.
Further successes cited are the pursuit of Covid fraudsters, the creation of Great British Energy to reduce bills, new workers' rights, lifting half a million working-class children out of poverty, and the pursuit of economic stability.
The list extends to raising the minimum wage, restoring rail to public ownership, help with energy bills, saving steel plants, protecting Jaguar Land Rover from tariffs, securing five interest rate cuts, seeing wages outpace prices, and a falling net migration rate.
The High Stakes of Communication
Maguire acknowledges missteps like the winter fuel cap and the initial retention of the two-child benefit cap, describing them as 'wrong, stupid and self-defeating'. However, he stresses the greater danger lies in timidity.
'Unless Starmer, his Ministers and MPs consistently highlight achievements all voters will hear are blunders, mistakes and omissions exploited by political rivals,' he writes. The risk of appearing arrogant by 'crowing' is far outweighed by the 'immeasurably greater' danger of silence, which he warns would lead to 'inevitable crushing defeat'.
The column, dated 7th December 2025, also touches on other issues. Maguire strongly questions Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's denials of racism and anti-Semitism following accusations from 28 school contemporaries, describing his responses as 'slippery, hectoring, bullying and deranged'.
On the economy, he notes that while wages are finally rising in real terms, the average worker is only £12 a week better off after 17 largely Conservative years, explaining why the cost-of-living crisis persists for many. He cites TUC analysis suggesting workers would be £16,500 a year better off had wage growth matched pre-2010 trends.
Finally, Maguire argues for embracing republican values, using the popularity of Versailles in France to challenge the notion that Britain needs a 'pampered privileged' royal family to attract tourism.
