Hey, politician! Tell us your story

“Be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it,” sang Nicole Scherzinger in the Pussycat Dolls’ seminal pop anthem When I Grow Up. These are wise words, and ones the Labour party may currently be – ironically – wishing they’d heeded.

For years and years, the centre and right of Labour despaired, as ideology seemingly ruled Westminster. To the right, the Conservatives drastically reduced the size of the state under George Osborne, while pretending it was simply what had to be done. Many of them campaigned to separate from our nearest neighbours, harming our economy in the process, for the sake of “sovereignty”.

Boris Johnson promised a tired country that sunlit uplands were on the horizon, but they never materialised. Liz Truss was… well, she was ideology made flesh. She crumbled into dust the moment her ideas were made to confront reality.

Things weren’t wholly better on the left, at least for a while. From 2015 to 2020, Jeremy Corbyn steered the opposition towards oblivion, often more concerned with being morally right than gaining the power to right some wrongs. In the meantime, the centre left reminisced about its flamboyant past, and it despaired. Could sensible politics ever make a comeback?

Their prayers were answered in July, when Keir Starmer became the first Labour prime minister to be elected in nearly a generation. Here was a man with a solid head on his shoulders, unburdened with maniacal ambitions or grand, unrealistic ideas about how to solve everything.

Starmer told the country that he was going to fix the mess left by his predecessors, that it was going to take some time and be painful, but that it would be worth it. He vowed to do away with empty promises, and simply get the job done. A sigh of relief could be heard travelling all the way from Whitehall to the centrist and centre left newsrooms. Finally, the nightmare was over. Things were looking up.

Nearly six months on, however, it seems worth asking – are they really? Labour has been back in power for nearly half a year and things haven’t exactly been going swimmingly. Little happened in the months preceding the budget and the budget was found wanting by many of the sectors concerned. There have been countless minor but unforced errors, and Keir Starmer has now “relaunched” his premiership more times than ought to be comfortable for such a shiny new prime minister.

There are a number of reasons why this may be the case. The party had been out of power for so long that there is little muscle memory left. The majority of the press is out to get them. The economic reality they inherited is dire. Still, they haven’t exactly been helping themselves.

Though people understand that some difficult decisions must be made, it isn’t enough, when people ask for justifications, for them to say “we don’t have a choice”. As any parent will know, a child cannot be made to eat their greens by solely being told “eat your greens, because I said so”. Even if they do manage a few forkfuls, they will only ever resent you for it.

Politics isn’t dissimilar. Voters aren’t stupid, and they realise that Britain is hardly in tip-top shape, but it is the job of the government to explain what they’re doing and, most importantly, just why they’re doing it. What does Keir Starmer’s vision for the country entail?

It isn’t enough to speak in platitudes. As the saying goes, if you could picture your opponent seamlessly talking about the same thing – dignity in work, a more prosperous country, yadda yadda – then you’ve not said anything of substance. Starmer and his cabinet are priding themselves on solely making small promises they can keep, but they must soon realise that it isn’t enough.

Sure, Britain gorged on ideology year after year, and found itself feeling sick as a result, but a middle ground can and must be found. Being a centrist doesn’t inherently have to mean lacking vision; New Labour proved that, and the public kept coming back for more.

This iteration of Labour wants to quietly get on with the job but has to understand that it is not a strategy likely to work. The other side of the pond provided quite a potent cautionary tale only a few months ago. Joe Biden’s policies helped millions of Americans, made their lives more prosperous and more secure, but many of them turned on him regardless.

Doing good isn’t the only thing that matters in politics; you must also tell people a story, and make sure they’re on board with it. If you don’t, others will seek to rewrite history for you, and they may well succeed.