Many of those who spoke to POLITICO described a lack of “curiosity” in the PM. “He just doesn’t ask questions, on policy, politics or apparently propriety either,” another former official said. Some ministers agree.
A current government official described Starmer’s approach to interrogating policies and other decisions as “hear no evil, see no evil.” The official added: “You can’t claim to be this meticulous lawyer, this micro-manager, this mandarin and then not care for stuff like this.”
Boris Johnson vibes
One bizarre example of his passivity is that Starmer apparently does not even express a strong preference about how he wants to spend his own time. “He is so hands-off about his diary,” another former No. 10 official said. Referring to Jill Cuthbertson, a top aide who used to run Starmer’s diary, this person said: “It’s kind of like, ‘what has Jill put in my diary today,’ and then if it was something he didn’t enjoy doing, someone else would bear the brunt of it, but he’d never be involved in the front end of ‘here’s how I would like to spend my day.’”
There is one famous exception: Friday evenings. In the final days before the 2024 election, Starmer made a point of saying he had a rule that he would not work after 6 p.m. on Fridays because he wanted to protect family time with his teenage children. Predictably, his political opponents claimed at the time that this was evidence the Labour leader would not work hard enough if he won power.
Plenty of people in Starmer’s team — including otherwise critical ex-colleagues — say the charge is unfair. And it is certainly true, for example, that Starmer frequently calls world leaders and attends many meetings on international crises such as Ukraine and the Middle East, at all hours of the day and week.
But some former officials still see problems. In the end, the job “demands” constant work and a willingness to spend every waking moment strategizing about politics, one said. And senior government staffers could find the premier eerily quiet outside normal office hours. “He certainly isn’t bombarding colleagues with ideas or thoughts about events over the weekend or in the evenings,” another added.