Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

[the other bob wilson]

Interesting article here which I think is pretty objective. For myself, I certainly haven’t disliked any Labour leader of my lifetime as much as I dislike Starmer (in fact, apart from Johnson, I struggle to think of a Tory leader I’ve disliked as much). Many of the reasons for my dislike are mentioned in the article - in particular, the freebies, those free glasses really got through to me.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/12/why-is-keir-starmer-so-deeply-unpopular

[jon1959]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

Interesting article here which I think is pretty objective. For myself, I certainly haven’t disliked any Labour leader of my lifetime as much as I dislike Starmer (in fact, apart from Johnson, I struggle to think of a Tory leader I’ve disliked as much). Many of the reasons for my dislike are mentioned in the article - in particular, the freebies, those free glasses really got through to me.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...eply-unpopular

I had just read that, and agree it covers most of the reasons quite well.

I would put Starmer's serial lying (to get the leadership and after), dependence and support for corporate donors and lobbyists, and his betrayal of human rights and international law (especially around Israel-Palestine) as the biggest factors - but I accept my lens is not the same as other peoples' lenses.

The result is that he is the worst Labour leader of my lifetime - and that goes back a long way. I despise him - and all those hangers on and commentators who keep claiming he is caring and principled but a bit out of his depth are not much better.

It is why I disagree with Sludge every time he calls Starmer and his gang 'hopeless'. That is not the charge although he certainly lacks personality, presence, political judgement or basic competence. But he was far from hopeless in carrying out the McSweeney project (with Mandelson etc lurking in the shadows). He drove out the left, vilified protestors and advocates for human rights, made immigrants and welfare claimants the enemy within, and made UK plc safe for his backers.

The Labour manifesto of 2024 was barely distinguishable from the Tory manifesto of 2024 - just with different font and badges! Jim Ratcliffe seemed to agree.

[Jordi Culé]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

Interesting article here which I think is pretty objective. For myself, I certainly haven’t disliked any Labour leader of my lifetime as much as I dislike Starmer (in fact, apart from Johnson, I struggle to think of a Tory leader I’ve disliked as much). Many of the reasons for my dislike are mentioned in the article - in particular, the freebies, those free glasses really got through to me.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...eply-unpopular

Personally because he's a snide, chameleon shifting, opportunistic Tory cuunt.

I don't envisage any if the above being in that article.

[JamesWales]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

As the article says, he is routinely touted as the least popular PM ever. I must admit, I do struggle to see why.

I don't particularly like his politics. I always find him a bit smarmy, a bit aloof a bit "north London liberal". Not much in common with me or many working class people. But on a personal level he does seem a nice enough guy, he seems pleasant, polite, thoughtful. Yeah, a bit boring. Less fun that Johnson. Less passionate than Corbyn or Farage etc, he's a bit robotic, but that's no reason to hate him.

I think it comes down to the gap between what he promised and what's delivered. He blamed EVERYTHING on the Tories. Sensible people recognised the role of COVID, Ukraine, even the role of social media in exposing MPs and spreading vitriol etc which has all changed since Labour were last in power. So when he made all these promises about the economy, cost of living, inflation, being less corrupt etc, and all of those things stay the same, people will be pissed off.

He made some serious easy mistakes too, the nonsense with the free glasses, the constant u-turns, etc.

I guess you can add to that the 10% on the furthest right and left of the country who just hate everything and everyone. He's managed to unite them too.

I don't hate him mind. I dunno, D- for me. It's a huge year for him and I doubt he'll see more than half of it.

[Eric Cartman]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

The article does a pretty good job of summarising the more reasonable frustrations and the ridiculous.

- He's not politically savvy at all, not a fluent public speaker and they have turned into a robot to help him cope with that, probably too 'correct' for me in the current age. Its a killer, if Labour ran on Corbyn's platform with George Clooney as their leader they would have got 60% of the vote in 2017 - presentation/fluency spells confidence and a lot of people judge others based on perceived confidence.

- I was hopeful they would manage to avoid scandals and they seem to be a magnet to them, doing the presses job for them to an extent.

- Too weak, u-turns show a lack of conviction. He probably needed to just call the parties bluff on the welfare bill (that episode has left me thinking that half of the PLP can't even count). It has coloured him as someone who can be pushed around. We had this with the Tories, announce a policy --> Inevitably u-turn on it.

The left are living in a fever dream at the moment where every action Starmer takes is sensationalised, the right are living in a immigration death spiral, as the number falls to more manageable level they are forced to take a more extreme position. The British public is probably 50% not politically engaged at all, and of the remainder, maybe 40% (20% in total) could be seen as being in an ideological pit.

I think the government from a policy perspective are doing roughly the right things, you don't hear about much of it though unless you go looking on gov.uk. The problem is that Westminster moves incredibly slowly and Starmer/Reeves are over-cautious and potentially not ambitious enough. I think they assumed they had 10 years to get the wheels moving and they almost certainly don't. Also Reeves is probably a bit too establishment/orthodox to be involved in anything transformational.

Not particularly inspired but the 'hate' is just absurd.

[jon1959]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

[goats]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

I quite like him:hehe:

[JamesWales]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

The article does a pretty good job of summarising the more reasonable frustrations and the ridiculous.

- He's not politically savvy at all, not a fluent public speaker and they have turned into a robot to help him cope with that, probably too 'correct' for me in the current age. Its a killer, if Labour ran on Corbyn's platform with George Clooney as their leader they would have got 60% of the vote in 2017 - presentation/fluency spells confidence and a lot of people judge others based on perceived confidence.

- I was hopeful they would manage to avoid scandals and they seem to be a magnet to them, doing the presses job for them to an extent.

- Too weak, u-turns show a lack of conviction. He probably needed to just call the parties bluff on the welfare bill (that episode has left me thinking that half of the PLP can't even count). It has coloured him as someone who can be pushed around. We had this with the Tories, announce a policy --> Inevitably u-turn on it.

The left are living in a fever dream at the moment where every action Starmer takes is sensationalised, the right are living in a immigration death spiral, as the number falls to more manageable level they are forced to take a more extreme position. The British public is probably 50% not politically engaged at all, and of the remainder, maybe 40% (20% in total) could be seen as being in an ideological pit.

I think the government from a policy perspective are doing roughly the right things, you don't hear about much of it though unless you go looking on gov.uk. The problem is that Westminster moves incredibly slowly and Starmer/Reeves are over-cautious and potentially not ambitious enough. I think they assumed they had 10 years to get the wheels moving and they almost certainly don't. Also Reeves is probably a bit too establishment/orthodox to be involved in anything transformational.

Not particularly inspired but the 'hate' is just absurd.

I think your penultimate paragraph is particularly apt. The government are actually slowly but surely getting on with the job of governing and by most accounts aren't doing a dreadful job. Unspectacular, yes. Below expectations, yes, but not dreadful.

Like you I find the hate baffling.

[Wales-Bales]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

Most ***** are!

[The Bloop]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

His premiership got off to an awful start with the stabbings in Southport and the incorrect social media claims about the identity of the purpotrator.
The riots, unrest, and anti-immigration protests that followed before the true identity was known, put Starmer on the back foot from the start, especially regarding immigration. That has helped the rise of Reform since the election.
Thats not the only thing though. Multiple u-turns dont help, but have also taken focus away from some of the good stuff done.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

His premiership got off to an awful start with the stabbings in Southport and the incorrect social media claims about the identity of the purpotrator.
The riots, unrest, and anti-immigration protests that followed before the true identity was known, put Starmer on the back foot from the start, especially regarding immigration. That has helped the rise of Reform since the election.
Thats not the only thing though. Multiple u-turns dont help, but have also taken focus away from some of the good stuff done.

I would go with that

The talk pre election about dealing with the migrant trafficking gangs and the subsequent lack of effective action has just snowballed for him

Following his initial difficult start he and reeves have been very poor and neither of them appear to have any charisma and gravitas

All this talk of growth was silly as there just hasnt been any improvement under them

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

I think your penultimate paragraph is particularly apt. The government are actually slowly but surely getting on with the job of governing and by most accounts aren't doing a dreadful job. Unspectacular, yes. Below expectations, yes, but not dreadful.

Like you I find the hate baffling.

Hes hopeless and so are his cabinet

Sort yourself out ff sake

[MOZZER2]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer abandons plan to delay 30 local council elections in England in May after Reforms legal challenge

The Government will now pay all of Reform UK’s legal costs after its U-turn on delaying 30 council elections

[JamesWales]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer abandons plan to delay 30 local council elections in England in May after Reforms legal challenge

The Government will now pay all of Reform UK’s legal costs after its U-turn on delaying 30 council elections

Quite a remarkable victory for Reform that.

I actually had some sympathy for Labour on this as I do agree with local government reorganization, but this is the second year of it and it just looked like them running scared and trying to deny democracy. No doubt they were trying to avoid the embarrassment of losing councils and now theyve made it look a whole lot worse

[Elwood Blues]

Re: Starmer, why is he so unpopular?

Quite a remarkable victory for Reform that.

I actually had some sympathy for Labour on this as I do agree with local government reorganization, but this is the second year of it and it just looked like them running scared and trying to deny democracy. No doubt they were trying to avoid the embarrassment of losing councils and now theyve made it look a whole lot worse

Apparently, they were advised it was illegal, so they didn't have much choice!

They are paying Reforms costs to date for the legal action they were planning for later in the week