Keir Starmer, new 'premier': "The reconstruction of the country is an urgent job, and we start it today"

LondonNo time to lose. The transfer of power in the United Kingdom is immediate. At five in the morning this Friday, the Labour Party managed to surpass the threshold of an absolute majority (326 seats; it has obtained 412, with the result of two constituencies yet to be known), and seven and a half hours later, Keir Starmer, accompanied by his wife, Victoria, entered Downing Street after being tasked by King Charles III to form a new executive, and thus becoming the 58th prime minister in the country's history.

And also with no time to lose, in front of the famous black door of number 10, Starmer stated: "With respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal. Our work is urgent and we begin it today." A job of "rebuilding the country brick by brick, because a reset is needed –he stressed–. Do not doubt that the work of change begins immediately!"

Rebuilding the country from the foundations requires, however, the task of rebuilding the trust of public opinion in the political class. One of the most evident symptoms of low trust may be the low participation in Thursday's elections, as it barely reached 60%, one of the lowest since the Second World War: "If I asked you now if you believe the United Kingdom will be better for your children, I know many of you would say no. So my government will fight every day until you believe it again. From now on, you have a government free from the doctrine [a reference to the dogmatism of which the previous party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was accused], guided only by the determination to serve your interests. You have given us a clear mandate and we will use it to bring about change, to restore service and respect to politics. Whether you voted Labour or not – in fact, especially if you did not vote for them – I tell you directly: my government will serve you”.

Starmer's performance

has not had the stridency or pomposity of Boris Johnson's, much less the emptiness of Liz Truss's, nor even the lightness of Rishi Sunak's, the three predecessors, but it has offered method and balance, perhaps two of its most relevant characteristics, if Tom Baldwin's biography is accepted as true. Not in vain, Starmer has achieved the recovery of Labour in record time after suffering, in 2019, its worst defeat in 90 years.

Traditional choreography

The choreography of the events that took place this Friday in central London has remained strictly attached to the British tradition of the transfer of power. Rishi Sunak had admitted in the early hours of the morning the magnitude of the conservative defeat and, from that moment on, everything has gone smoothly. At half past ten in the morning, the then prime minister appeared before Number 10 Downing Street – at that moment a light rain was falling –: "I have heard your anger," he confessed, referring to the irrevocable verdict of the ballot boxes. A few minutes later, he would visit King Charles III to present his resignation and to recommend that he commission the formation of the government to the winner of the elections. At the same time, he also informed that in the near future, when the appropriate mechanisms have been established, he will resign as tory leader.

Shortly before 1:00 PM, local time, Keir Starmer entered 10 Downing Street, after having delivered his speech, which lasted just over six minutes. And almost immediately, as he had stated, the work of appointing his ministers began, who will meet for the first time this Saturday.

And tradition continued with the parade of the new members of the executive through the world's most famous alley until they reached the door of number 10. Angela Rayner, the party's number two, a woman of very humble origins who became a mother at 16, and who the media right and the Conservative Party had put in their sights in recent months over an alleged scandal that did not exist, has been appointed deputy prime minister and minister for Territorial Equalities.

Another woman, Rachel Reeves, a former Bank of England technician, has become the UK's first female Treasury minister. Reeves warned earlier this morning about the rather poor state of the country's public finances. "There isn't a large amount of money in the public coffers. Therefore, what we need to do is unlock private sector investment," a clear statement of intent that refers to the third way of New Labour and collaboration between the state and the markets. "The main mission of this government – she said after being appointed – is to restore economic growth.

Yvette Cooper, another woman, has taken on one of the four most relevant, and perhaps most challenging, portfolios, Home Secretary. And David Lammy, another man of very humble origins, from north-east London, the Tottenham area, has taken on responsibility for the Foreign Office. It will be Lammy and the also just-appointed Defence Secretary, John Healey, the only members of Starmer's government who had already been part of Gordon Brown's last Labour executive (2010) who will accompany Starmer next week to Washington, for the first summit of international relevance, the NATO meeting, in which the new Prime Minister will participate between the 9th and 11th.

Starmer's promise to begin the country's reconstruction work "immediately", the evidence of public opinion's disillusionment with the state of the economy and public services, the 4.1 million almost insurgent and barely far-right votes for the Reform Party, the 1.9 million for the Greens, and the realization that the two main parties have achieved less than 60% of the total votes are some of the indicators that highlight what the new executive faces. Perhaps it will have a hundred days of grace, counting on the August holiday break, but little more. And if Starmer doesn't get it right, Farage seems willing to use protest and constant agitation as a tool of pressure.