Keir Starmer’s ambition could let him unite Labour – if it wants to be united

Inside Westminster: Can Labour be made fit to one day win an election? Bringing together left, soft-left and right may be the only way to do it

Emily Thornberry has described Sir Keir Starmer as being “on the right”, and accused him of plotting his leadership bid while Labour plunged to its catastrophic election defeat. Both charges are wrong.

Starmer is not a “Blairite”, despite his critics’ attempt to pin the most unwanted label in politics on him. He had a low profile during the general election because Jeremy Corbyn put him in his box. Thornberry knows this, as she suffered the same fate. Nonetheless, needing to make waves to secure nominations from 33 constituency parties to stay in the race, Thornberry told ITV’s Calling Peston podcast that Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey are “two machine politicians ... Rebecca on the left and Keir on the right”.

Yet Starmer’s soft-left credentials are as strong as Thornberry’s, or Lisa Nandy’s. Indeed, some Labour lawyers regard Starmer as “too left-wing”. Some members of this club recall that unlike them, Starmer’s goal was not to get rich but “to do the ethical thing”; the human rights specialist could have made a lot more money by taking a different path.