So there it was: as well as a modern tendency to loathe politicians that regularly seems arbitrary, whipped-up and way over the top, a sense that Starmer's sheer blankness – his painful lack of clarity and the absence of a halfway coherent story about his own government – was making a lot of people dislike and mistrust him all the more.
Harris is obviously a good judge, because that was very much what I was saying on Bluesky at about the same time.
The fall of Starmer is a reminder that personality matters in politics. He never gave the public the impression that he had much of one. The result was that not only did he fail to inspire or enthuse anyone, but also that the public invented an unflattering personality for him. 1/3
— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers.bsky.social) 22 June 2026 at 10:29
World events gave him almost weekly opportunities to address the nation and sound prime-ministerial, yet he rarely took them. But then he didn't even talk to the junior ministers he sacked. 2/3
— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers.bsky.social) 22 June 2026 at 10:29
I'd also say that not being the Tories, which was Labour's strong selling point in the election, does not of itself generate a coherent programme for government. Perhaps Sunak's early election caught them on the hop, but you do get the impression that they came to power underprepared. 3/3
— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers.bsky.social) 22 June 2026 at 10:29
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