Pollster John Curtice issues devastating verdict on Keir Starmer | Politics | News
A polling guru has delivered a devastating verdict on the “bland and boring” Sir Keir Starmer as he clings to power amid the Lord Peter Mandelson scandal. Professor Sir John Curtice said the Prime Minister was seen by voters as someone who had “no sense of direction” or “sense of vision” and lacked charisma.
He added that a series of U-turns on pensions, including cuts to winter fuel payments, had damaged confidence in the Government. Asked why Sir Keir was disliked, the pollster told ITV’s Peston programme: “The first thing to say is that our leaders are disliked because all our parties are disliked.
“We must remember that we come from a period in British politics where two parties dominated public opinion… It has become much more difficult for anyone to be popular.
“But beyond that, the problem people say is the same problem most political commentators say is that they don’t know what he stands for.
“When you cloud those words, the resulting word is bland and boring. Beyond that, given that it has no sense of direction, it has no sense of vision, frankly it doesn’t have much in the way of charisma, the Government’s various U-turns, some of which have been more damaging than others, and the one everyone still remembers is the winter fuel allowance, have slowly eroded people’s confidence in the ability of this Government to do what they wanted it to do in the first place. 2024 will turn the economy and the health service into reverse.”
Sir John said it was logical for Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar to call for Sir Keir to step down earlier this week.
He said: “Yes, from his point of view. I think the honest truth is that you’re looking at someone realizing they’re sitting in a car about to crash at the end of a cul-de-sac.”
“This is because not only is the UK Government unpopular with people in Scotland, it is also unpopular with people voting Labor in Scotland in July 2024.
“The only thing he had to keep in his hand was the steering wheel in front of him, so he decided to turn it.
“He didn’t know where the car was going, he just had to hope it could stop somewhere softer than the crash barrier it was heading towards.”
“But the reality is that it is very debatable whether it is getting to a better place, it is proving to be very, very difficult for Labor in Scotland to distance itself from the perceived record of the UK Labor Government.”
It comes as Sir Keir is suffering the worst week of his premiership so far and is forced to fight for his premiership amid Lord Mandelson’s anger.
