The resignation of Keir Starmer¡¯s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, on Sunday brings the Starmer era in British politics to an end. The precise timing and mechanism of the prime minister¡¯s defenestration is unclear. But his authority is shot to pieces and his government has lost what purpose it had.
There is only one subject on the Labour Party¡¯s mind: Who should replace him? The pros and cons of the two main candidates are endlessly debated. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is a deft media performer. But is that a strength rather than a weakness in the post-Peter Mandelson era, with the party¡¯s former spinmeister now in disgrace? Angela Rayner, the ex-deputy leader, is a charismatic champion of the left. But what about her tax affairs? Al Carns, the armed-services minister and former special-services officer, has made a well-publicized visit to NATO¡¯s northernmost border on Norway¡¯s Russia border. At least this relative unknown is free of political baggage.
But Labour needs more than a new leader. It needs a new sense of direction. The problem with Starmer¡¯s leadership is not simply that he isn¡¯t very good at politics. It is that he has never known what he wanted to do with power. He occasionally flirted with silly ideas ¡ª ¡°mission-driven government¡± one day and reviving the spirit of Harold Wilson the next ¡ª only to abandon them. He never had an answer to the basic question: What am I here for?
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