Who does new year Keir look like after his reset? Last year Keir – and that’s a huge problem | John McTernan

This weekend’s lengthy BBC interview was a great opportunity to show more vim and a new vision, but once again process and stock phrases won outJohn McTernan was political secretary to Tony Blair at No 10 Keir Starmer kicked off the political new year with a fascinating and revealing 45-minute-long interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The format was another sign of the No 10 comms team changing up its game – it was the nearest thing that public service broadcasting gets to an ask me anything (AMA). Throughout the lengthy exchange the real Starmer was on show as he calmly and doggedly fielded all questions.And that was the problem. This wasn’t an attempt to reframe the political narrative for the coming year, nor was it a clear exposition of Labour’s “soft left” political economy – nationalisation, workers’ rights and the green transition. There was a complete absence of storytelling, just reliance on a handful of carefully practised phrases, the abiding sin of this Labour government: the elevation of tactics above strategy.John McTernan is a political strategist Continue reading...