Starmer seeks to stifle critics including Elon Musk in pivotal year

LONDON – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had clear instructions for his team going into the new year: keep calm, drown out the naysayers and focus on delivering for the British public.

But some in Labour question whether that steady-as-she-goes approach will be enough to weather the headwinds coming their way in 2025.

The Premier, who swept to power last July

on a pledge to restore competence and decency to politics, starts January in a dangerous position: accused by critics in the press, opposition parties, and even within his own Labour outfit of representing more of the same, rather than the change he promised. 

Preventing that narrative from becoming entrenched will be the government’s key challenge in the months ahead, according to ministers, lawmakers and aides who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity discussing their private views.

Mr Starmer’s personal ratings are already “deep underwater”, and his party has lost 5 to 10 points in the polls, according to Mr Luke Tryl from the think-tank and pollster More In Common.

“While an election is years off, that we are in the midterm blues so quickly is striking,” Mr Tryl said. “Voters will forgive a bumpy start, but if this year is more of the same, attitudes may crystallise against Starmer’s government.”

Drowning out criticism has not been easy in Labour’s first six months in office.

Mr Starmer has struggled to convince the public that he had a plan for power, unveiling a confusing array of promises including two “priorities”, three “foundations”, five “missions” and six each of “first steps” and “milestones”.

An early measure to shore up the public finances by stripping away winter fuel payments from the elderly and a tax-raising budget have drawn the ire of pensioners, farmers and businesses.

More broadly, voters are dissatisfied with a series of unpopular decisions the government has blamed on its inheritance from the previous Conservative administration.

The noise reached a crescendo in recent days when Tesla chief Elon Musk escalated his own vitriolic attacks on Mr Starmer.

Posting on his social media platform X on Jan 3, Mr Musk claimed the Premier was “complicit in the rape of Britain” and should face charges for his actions as the country’s chief prosecutor during a child sex abuse scandal.

In fact, in that role from 2008 to 2013, it was Mr Starmer who began the prosecution of so-called grooming gangs in British towns.

Having a key member of US President-elect Donald Trump’s team lambaste him regularly is hardly ideal, but Mr Starmer has told his aides that he sees no merit in engaging in a back-and-forth with Mr Musk, or indeed any of his other critics.

Whether it be posts on X across the Atlantic or British newspaper headlines, Mr Starmer is insistent he does not want to be dragged away from priorities and become embroiled in a political soap-opera.

He will not be buffeted by external pressures, even if that means governing sometimes feels like a slog, one member of his staff said.

Ms Deborah Mattinson, his former strategy director, said in a telephone interview: “Keir is quite an unusual politician in that he is very focused on what he wants to do: effective government to meet the challenges our country faces.

“He won’t be distracted by gossip – he sees it largely as water off a duck’s back – and he’s not interested in playing politics. I think that is a currently underrated quality.” 

In that vein, Mr Starmer has eschewed the typical new year speech used by previous premiers to set out their vision for the months ahead.

Instead, he will give what aides describe as a “speechette” on Jan 6, providing more detail on how he intends to meet his target of ensuring 92 per cent of National Health Service (NHS) patients wait no longer than 18 weeks for elective treatment.

Mr Starmer purposely wanted to avoid a more wide-ranging speech and focus on a single key priority, an ally said.

After spending a lot of time abroad in 2024, he has no plans for foreign travel in January and will have more of a domestic focus.

Nevertheless, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will visit China next week to boost financial services ties, while British representation at Trump’s Jan 20 inauguration is yet to be decided.

On Jan 8, the government will introduce a Bill in Parliament outlining school reforms, while legislation imposing tougher border security measures will be laid in coming weeks.

Last week, a new commission was established to make recommendations on social care, another major policy problem unresolved by successive governments.

Immigration will become a key theme for Mr Starmer in 2025, with the Home Office planning new sanctions against people smugglers and agreements with other countries to counter irregular migration, according to people familiar with the matter.

Downing Street officials are sanguine about their rocky start, insisting their overarching strategy was always to front-load tough decisions.

One lesson from the first few months has been that ministers feel there is no time to waste, and that they do not want to have another half-year period without the public feeling change is happening.

Another area where aides expect to see improvement in the coming weeks is on talking about their achievements.

Mr Starmer is said to be particularly pleased with progress made in increasing the returns of illegal migrants, with plans being formulated to illustrate that more clearly for the public.

Similarly, there will be a tighter focus on the major issues voters care most about, in particular the NHS, living standards, immigration and crime.

By year-end, the Labour government would want to be given more credit for its policy improvements in those areas, an aide said.

It will be easier said than done.

Ms Reeves faces the spectre of lacklustre economic growth and declining business confidence, which could in turn lead to even harsher public spending cuts or tax rises, and that is before the consequences of Trump’s presidency are realised, including a threatened shake-up of global trade and potentially reduced support for Ukraine.

Mr Starmer will need to be made of stern stuff not to be knocked off course. BLOOMBERG