Despite talk of equal opportunities and fresh faces, Sir Keir Starmer's top jobs and new MPs include many from established Labour families
Despite talk of equal opportunities and fresh faces, Sir Keir Starmer's top jobs and new MPs include many from established Labour families: it’s a family affair. After all, it takes a special dedication to name your oldest son after party founder Keir Hardie, as our new PM’s leftie parents did. While the Chipping Norton Tories could resemble an exclusive country club, being in the Labour Party is closer to a quasi-religion, that a few hopeful believers dedicate their lives to.
As many will remember, family was particularly important in the final iteration of New Labour. Central were the Miliband brothers, who has just become Home Secretary, and her husband, shadow chancellor turned cha-cha enthusiast Ed Balls. A generation older was Harriet Harman, who last week stood down as an MP after 42 years. She was married to the late Jack Dromey, ex-Labour Treasurer.Family connections in Labour go right back to its formation.
Seasoned political observer Michael Cockerell says that while the “Tory party is riddled,” with familial links, Labour people “often think of themselves as comrades and relations” instead – a subtle distinction. “That’s the way the Labour party operates: it’s meant to be a fraternal party of brothers” he says. That can mean that “they are real relations – their brother or mother or father have been in the Labour Party, or been MPs”.
That means that Starmer may have to be careful not to over promote those with familial links in his Cabinets. “The worst thing is if someone becomes an MP and then a minister, and it doesn’t look as though they have better ability to do the job than other people,” Cockerell goes on. “There’s always that question, and for a Prime Minister it’s always very difficult.”
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