Shrinking horizons: Starmerism and the politics of nothing
Soundings - Print ISSN 1362-6620 - Online ISSN 1741-0797
Volume 2025 Number 90 & 91
Shrinking horizons: Starmerism and the politics of nothing
Will Leggett pages 10‑25
DOI: 10.3898/SOUN:90-91.01.2025
Abstract
The unpopularity and drift of Keir Starmer’s government has surprised even its longtime detractors. Starmer - who promised ‘change’ when in opposition - has been repeatedly urged to lay out a vision for the country but seems unwilling or unable to do so. A transformative political project requires a sociological analysis of the dynamics of change, and a set of values to show how these will be politically steered. The now unfashionable New Labour project of 1997-2010 - regardless of its actual political content - illustrates how a centre-left party can implement this form of politics. New Labour’s Third Way offered a sociological account of a changing world and sought to articulate (albeit contested) values to shape it. The paralysis of Starmerism derives from a remarkable absence of both these elements - a politics of nothing. In this vacuum emerges increasingly transactional government conduct, but without a narrative to explain it. The result is disenchantment among the ‘losers’ of policies, and no gratitude from the ‘winners’. Key headline themes used by the government, such as ‘security’ and ‘growth’, could easily be given a more social-democratic content and integrate discrete areas of policy. However, even if Starmerism embraced this more expansive, progressive politics, significant risks remain. The extent of social complexity and polarisation - much of which is a pathological acceleration of trends identified by the Third Way in the 1990s - may provide obstacles too challenging for the centre-left to convert into a popular, durable project. But this will remain an unknown unless Starmer at least attempts a politics of something.
To cite this article
Will Leggett (2025) Shrinking horizons: Starmerism and the politics of nothing, Soundings, 2025(90 & 91 ), 10-25 . https://doi.org/10.3898/SOUN:90-91.01.2025