Keir Starmer has become a domestic disaster and an international embarrassment

The PM is now failing even by his own low standards; a laughing stock in Britain and the world

01 August 2025 

Daily Telegraph 

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If you haven’t yet used The Telegraph’s interactive tool to see how your name ranks in the newborn popularity stakes, then I would urge you to do so. With holiday flights cancelled, junior doctors threatening strikes until Christmas – and Britain appearing both lawless at home and toothless abroad – it brings some much-needed light relief.

I thought “Camilla” would become extinct after being named 30 years ago as the third person in Princess Diana’s “crowded” marriage to Prince Charles, but 62 girls were called it in 2024. Confirmation, perhaps, that we’re a forgiving bunch when it comes to royals, except perhaps the Duke of York and Meghan (peaked at 101 newborns when she married Harry in 2018, now down just 14 namesakes last year).

Prime ministers usually enjoy a bounce in the newborn name charts after taking office – with Boris and Rishi both experiencing a moderate rise in popularity. Even the number of girls named “Liz” went up after Truss’s 49-day tenure in 2022, although that may have had more to do with the death of Queen Elizabeth II two days after she entered Downing Street.

Yet, despite being the first son of a toolmaker to become PM last year, no one called their own male descendant Keir to mark the occasion. Not one.

Such is the lack of affection for the current incumbent of No 10 that devoted mums and dads preferred Gordon, Tony – Clement, even – to their Labour successor. The revelation reflects how far Starmer has sunk in the estimation of the great British public, who are increasingly regarding him as a national embarrassment.

After U-turning on winter fuel, rape gangs and welfare cuts, he was already considered a domestic policy dud. Even Gary Neville is turning against his tax policy. He has tried triangulation, one moment warning Britain is becoming an “island of strangers”, the next back-tracking after a brief pushback, and it hasn’t worked. His approval rating, according to one July poll, has plunged to -43.

And now, “Never Here Keir” can also add his recent foreign affairs failures to the lengthy list after presiding over a truly humiliating week for Britain. He is failing by his own standards, neither a domestic visionary nor even an international statesman. Having won some rare plaudits for securing a historic UK/US trade deal in May (thanks largely to the Brexit vote he desperately tried to reverse in Opposition), he then squandered any advantage in Turnberry with an appearance alongside Donald Trump which made Blair’s poodle act look positively Rottweilerish.

At least when George W Bush famously greeted our former prime minister with a fratboyish cry of “Yo Blair!” at the 2006 G8 summit, it spoke to the bromantic nature of the “special relationship”. Although supplicant, Blair was far from invisible; indeed, the criticism was that they were standing shoulder to shoulder as Iraq-invading soulmates.

By comparison, Starmer was completely overshadowed by The Donald in Scotland, the US President dominating the tartan-clad meeting despite it being held on British soil. He barely made any valuable contributions to the 72-minute press conference, where he appeared to perfect the art of the thousand yard stare, seemingly unable to cope with the spontaneity of the Q&A. They called Theresa May the Maybot – but Starmer is fast resembling Westminster’s own C3PO; unbending in his fussy and fastidious adherence to “the rules” at all costs.

Much as we all enjoyed Trump’s assault on “nasty” London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Starmer’s spineless “he’s a friend of mine” defence was nothing short of pathetic. Call out a colleague widely blamed for the capital’s descent into borderline lawlessness? Computer says no. Undeterred in the face of such insipidity, the Commander in Chief went on to say: “I think he’s done a terrible job.” Agree or disagree, at least the guy says what he thinks rather than sticking to some vapid pre-arranged script dreamed up by No 10 types who appear to have less human contact than Tatooine Womp rats.

The friendly rhetoric is welcome, though it jars with what Trump seems to make of other Lefty liberal European leaders. As he remarked earlier of French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognise the Palestinian state, for instance: “Here’s the good news: What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything.”

Were Starmer not such a paranoid android, obsessing over backbench rebellions, the resident oddballs of the SNP and now, Corbyn’s new Left(field) Party, he might have had the guts to side with the Yanks and Israel on Gaza. They’re two of our closest allies, after all. Sadly, he appears incapable of independent thought, and instead appears to be buffeted either by events or his backbenchers.

Offered an alternative to the status quo, this man – who famously once said he preferred Davos to parliament – will cowardly plump for the consensus every single time. Even more cravenly, he’ll kowtow to his fellow conformists by using the cloak of “international law” to defend his actions – even when they’re shown to be morally questionable. Then, if met with criticism – he’ll gaslight the public by changing tack for political expediency – while pretending “nothing has changed”.

The complete and utter mess he’s made of rushing to recognise Palestine is a case in point. First, he announces that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel halts the “appalling” situation in Gaza and agrees to a two-state solution.

Recognition of Palestine will happen regardless of whether or not Hamas release the remaining hostages. Then, sensing a growing backlash, No 10 tries to pivot, with a spokesman clarifying that they “must be released” while still demanding that Israel desist from removing Hamas by force. Meanwhile, it’s pointed out Starmer’s plan is actually in breach of international law.

So we now have a prime minister who is willing to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on the basis of an International Court of Justice ruling that wasn’t even legally binding in the interests of “anti colonialism” – while ignoring the actual international treaty on recognising statehood when it comes to Palestine, which is all a little, well, imperialist.

And who could forget the Brexit “reset”, in which we traded our fundamental freedoms for some technical benefits, such as access to passport e-gates on the continent, which may in some cases not be realised.

All the while, we’re to believe that this is “statesmanlike” Starmer acting in the national interest. In fact, it’s simply to save his own bacon. Yet the Government could lose a vote on the issue in the House of Commons and increasing numbers of Muslim voters could opt for independent or Green alternatives to Labour.

There’s a name for all this, and it isn’t leadership.