Labour’s defeat in the 2021 byelection nearly prompted its leader to quit. Instead, he learned lessons – just as he must now
No prime minister plans to spend the first hundred days in Downing Street learning how not to govern for the next hundred.
The intensity of the job is famously relentless, but it’s also supposed to be exhilarating. The confident stride of a triumphant leader should mask initial missteps. For Keir Starmer to look already winded, however, suggests that something has gone badly wrong. The departure of Sue Gray, his chief of staff, confirms it.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
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