Starmer’s ‘lump politics’? Fading mass hope after Conservative defeat in UK

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak

In a Labour Party Election Broadcast on 16 April 2024, Sir Keir Starmer highlighted how his working-class background influences his approach to politics. In a BBC interview on 27 May 2024, Sir Starmer reinforced his working-class roots and pledged to serve the interests of working people in Britain. He even described himself as a progressive and a socialist. However, mass hopes following the Conservative Party’s defeat are fading as Starmer’s politics and policies as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are revealed.

In a recent press conference on August 27, 2024, Prime Minister Starmer warned the working masses of Britain that the upcoming October budget would be painful. He advised people to “accept short-term pain for long-term good.” He plans to implement Tory austerity measures that will increase the cost of living for working people.

Starmerism is an ideology-free zone where commitment to principle is denied and the crass politics of opportunism are promoted to defend the interests of the transnational and national capitalist classes in Britain. He took every opportunity to suppress democratic dissent within the party, and ensured that there was no space for popular left leadership or socialist debates within the Labour Party under his leadership.

In doing so, Starmer has not only dismantled the Labour Party as a democratic socialist party, but has transformed it into a second-rate Tory party. The traditional Labour Party is doomed and Britain’s future looks bleak under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Austerity is not an economic policy; it is a project of the capitalist class to drain the pockets of working people. Austerity measures create economic conditions in which the working masses suffer in crisis, normalizing low wages and naturalizing job insecurity. These conditions of low wages and job insecurity undermine a productive environment for innovation and reduce the productive capacities of the working class.

Britain began to experience rising wealth inequality and rising low incomes in the 1980s as a result of policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. These policies introduced structural adjustment and internal austerity measures as policy alternatives. In reality, austerity can help neither in the short term nor in the long term.

It works against social, economic and scientific progress and prosperity. It creates conditions of poverty that destabilize the economy. That is why austerity is a destructive economic choice, now adopted by the Labour government led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Starmer has not only dismantled the Labour Party as a democratic socialist party, but has also transformed it into a second-rate Tory party

Working people are suffering from rising living costs, while British businesses are making super profits. The Labour Party government under Keir Starmer is working like the Tories to protect Britain’s super-rich by marginalising working people. His election promises and his actions in government are diametrically opposed.

The working masses did not vote for austerity measures in health, education, transport and other social services. People gave the Labour Party a landslide victory to recover from the crisis, not to normalise it in their daily lives in Britain.

The lumpen policy of the Labour Party under Starmer’s leadership shows that there is no fundamental difference between the Conservative and Labour leaderships. Both defend the interests of the British establishment. It is clear that these two parties have failed and have no plans to defend the interests of the working masses.

Such an ideological alliance between the two mainstream parties in Britain creates an opportunity to lay the foundations for alternative politics based on peace, prosperity and progress. By putting the interests of the working masses at the centre, this alternative approach can address the political and economic crises in British society.

The mobilisation of the working class is the first step to defeating these two mainstream parties and the politics of their lumpen leadership. The dependence of the working class on the British establishment must end. It is time to establish working class politics as the only viable alternative to established politics.

No more spending on wars and focus on people’s well-being. These are the only options that can address the ongoing daily crisis in Britain.