Keir Starmer arrived in government with a big promise to introduce change.
In his first speech from the steps of Downing Street, the prime minister vowed to rebuild the public’s “lack of trust” in politics with “actions not words” following his landslide victory.
Almost six months later, such pledges seem to have already gone to pot.
By September, YouGov found the most common descriptor among Brits for Starmer’s Labour was “dishonest” – a word chosen by 36% of the public.
A further 31% of the respondents thought the party is “only interested in themselves”, and the “same as the rest”.
Pollsters at Ipsos then concluded in December that Starmer is more unpopular than any other UK prime minister has been during their first five months in No.10 since the 70s.
So, what’s happened?
Not only has Starmer unveiled a series of unpopular policies – hiking National Insurance tax for employers, reducing eligibility for winter fuel payments, and keeping the two-child benefit cap – but he’s been mired in political controversies, too.
Starmer was found to have declared more freebies than any other sitting MP between 2019 and September this year, with their total value coming to £107,145.
That included multiple pairs of glasses for the PM himself, “work clothing”, football tickets, tickets to see Taylor Swift, and high-end outfits for his wife.
His top donor, Lord Alli, was also handed a temporary pass to No.10, sparking backlash and accusations of “cronyism”.
It only got worse for Labour when Labour loyalists or other donors were appointed to senior civil service posts.
Starmer rejected such cronyism claims and repaid more than £6,000 worth of those gifts and hospitality, while also tightening the rules around ministers who accept freebies.
But it was too late – his critics were already comparing him to Boris Johnson, who infamously used donors’ money to redecorate his Downing Street flat.
Interest in the freebies was particularly heightened after the flurry of lobbying scandals across Westminster in recent years.
Ex-PM David Cameron was found to have lobbied on behalf of Greensill Capital while making £3.3m from shares in the firm in 2021; then Tory MP Owen Paterson was accused of lobbying on behalf of Randox, whom he was a consultant for, that same year; hereditary peer the Earl of Shrewsbury was suspended for nine months after lobbying on behalf of Covid sanitising products in 2022 and being paid £57,000; and former Tory MP Scott Benton was accused of lobbying for the gambling industry in 2023.
According to the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Alastair McCapra, Starmer can dispel any comparisons between his government and his last Downing Street predecessors pretty effortlessly by cranking up transparency in parliament.
“If Starmer misses his chance, the next Westminster lobbying scandal cannot be far off, and public patience is pretty much exhausted
“Lobbying reform isn’t expensive,” McCapra told HuffPost UK. “It isn’t being opposed by the lobbying industry, quite the contrary.
“For a prime minister wrestling, in difficult circumstances, to deliver on voters’ expectations, it seems an easy one to tick off. Perhaps the New Year will bring a spring to Keir Starmer’s step and he will make this a serious priority.”
There seems little doubt that this would only boost Starmer’s public image, according to CIPR’s own research.
An Opinium poll in 2023 found almost half of its 2,100 respondents though lobbying rules are too weak, and close to three quarters said lobbying scandals make them less confident in the political system altogether.
However, McCapra warned that this is an issue that Starmer only has a certain amount of time to resolve.
He warned: “If he misses his chance, the next Westminster lobbying scandal cannot be far off, and public patience is pretty much exhausted. As they say, the best time to do this was last year. The second best time is now.”
Labour promised to crack down on lobbying before they got into office, including a proposed ban on second jobs for MPs and a pledge to create an Ethics and Integrity Commission in the the party’s election manifesto.
However, neither of these pledges have come to fruition yet.
McCapra also noted that “Labour has gone very quiet” on the repeal and replacement of the 2014 Lobbying Act – which the CIPR says is full of loopholes – since getting into office.
He said: “Some of the worst lobbying scandals in memory have taken place since that law was passed.
“Its main effect on public life appears to have been the ever more frequent repetition of that awful establishment assurance that ‘no rules were broken’.
“If you hear that phrase more than once in a blue moon you know it’s the rules themselves that are the problem.”
He added: “The UK lags well behind other democracies in terms of how lobbying is regulated, and that carries significant reputational cost for whoever is in government.”
In the Commons in July, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden did not offer a date for introducing the new commission, but acknowledged it was an “important manifesto commitment”.
He said: “On several fronts, we want to get the right systems in place, but in the end it is a matter of show, not tell.”
Labour MP Joe Powell, who is the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax, told HuffPost UK that parliament need to see this commission “up and running as soon as possible, and it must include stronger oversight over lobbying.”
But the MP also emphasised the need to protect the UK against “exploitation”.
He added: “We also need to ensure that British politics is not left open to exploitation by dirty money—whether from overseas interests or those seeking to exert undue influence on decision-making.
“This is about rebuilding public trust and ensuring decisions serve the public interest—not just those with the deepest pockets or the thickest black book.”
