Keir Starmer will not rule out Blair-style ‘rabbit out of a hat’ second if he wins
Keir Starmer has refused to rule out pulling a surprise Tony Blair-style “rabbit out the hat” in his first few days if he becomes PM.
The Labour leader has been urged to unveil a “bold” initiative immediately to stamp his authority on the job. Sir Tony’s former chief aide called on Mr Starmer to draw inspiration from 1997, when the New Labour leader stunned the financial world by putting the Bank of England in charge of interest rates.
Mr Starmer said voters would have to “wait until we get there” if he does become Prime Minister. It comes after Jonathan Powell, Sir Tony’s former chief of staff, told a panel event: “What you want off the back of an election is to go straight into something like Bank of England independence, something major that shows the direction you’re going to go.”
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He said Mr Starmer would be wise to use his “political capital” early on, as bold moves become more difficult as time passes. Mr Powell said an incoming Government will “need to do something fairly radical fairly quickly… to really demonstrate that it can change things.”
Asked if he thought Mr Starmer was cooking up a “rabbit in a hat” moment, Mr Powell said: “You do actually have to have prepared the rabbit before. So I have no idea what they’ve prepared.” Asked what advice he’d have for Mr Starmer, he said: “I would have an announcement that has real impact straight away.”
Quizzed about Mr Powell’s comments, Mr Starmer said: “Well, look, in terms of what we’ll be doing in the first few days and we’ve set out what the first steps are etc, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until we get there, if we get there, before pre-empting, what we will say.”
He revealed he has spoken to Sir Tony and Gordon Brown, the last Labour Prime Minister, seeking advice. He told reporters in Derbyshire: “I have spoken to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown over the last few years, particularly since I’ve been leader of the Labour Party about taking a political party, the Labour Party, from opposition into power.
“We don’t do it very often. We’ve only done it three times in the entire history of the Labour Party – in 1945, 1964 and 1997. We’re trying to do it for the fourth time in the whole history of the Labour Party.
“So I wanted to talk to people who’ve done it before, not so much about specific policies, but about the about the pace and architecture around how we ensure we’re in the best position we can be.”
