In a new interview, Starmer has defended his record-breaking unpopularity by arguing voters have judged him too soon:

Judge me at next election, Starmer tells doubters https://t.co/ElmWVgOGWc

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 21, 2025

Given the chaos of the past year, the voters who believe he has honest intentions have clearly come to the conclusion that he lacks the vision to follow through on his promises.

And that’s not to mention the many voters who don’t think he has honest intentions.

Starmer—”very conscious”

Speaking to the BBC at the Johannesburg G20 summit, Starmer spoke on how unpopular he is:

We won an election last year on the manifesto that said we would change the country after 14 years of failure.

I always said that would take time because you can’t turn around 14 years of failure in just 12 months or 16 months.

To be clear, Starmer isn’t just unpopular; he’s the most unpopular prime minister in the history of modern polling:

NEW from Ipsos

Satisfaction with the PM remains unchanged since September, continuing to be the worst ever recorded by Ipsos for a Prime Minister, going back to 1977… pic.twitter.com/jXzhD1ATAg

— Ipsos in the UK (@Ipsos_in_the_UK) November 16, 2025

The issue people have is that Starmer doesn’t seem to have made any attempt to ‘turn around’, and instead is driving full speed ahead with the neoliberal consensus that began under Thatcher and continued under Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson etc, etc.

Labour supporters will point to policies like expanding free school meals, but these are very much a case of tinkering around the edges. These policies will do little to counterbalance the constant drain on British wealth which results from the privatisation scam which Labour is refusing to address (bar the rail network, although that began under the Tories because private rail companies kept failing).

Judge me at next election, Starmer tells doubters https://t.co/ElmWVgOGWc

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 21, 2025

‘Labour MPs urge Reeves to drop private finance plans for NHS buildings’

As the budget gets closer, the pressure on this government to drop new PFI just keeps building. https://t.co/RcmVWL5DjA

— We Own It (@We_OwnIt) November 21, 2025

Should your bills rise to clean up the mess of water privatisation? NO!

We’re fighting for public ownership to stop pollution for profit. pic.twitter.com/KhATWmMOYK

— We Own It (@We_OwnIt) March 12, 2025

“Rightly judged”

Back to the interview, Starmer also said:

I’m very conscious that we have to deliver on three things above all else. The first is making sure people feel better off, and that’s bearing down on the cost-of-living, making sure the public services are better, in particular the NHS, which is why we put record investment in the NHS, and making sure people feel more safe and secure.

And I have no doubt that I will rightly be judged against that at the next election.

“Record investment in the NHS” isn’t the brag you think it is when we know you’re dishing out contracts to private healthcare providers.

It’s also hard to believe this government has any interest in tackling the cost-of-living crisis when it allows the companies fuelling the crisis to get away with stuff like this:

FUN FACT: Supermarket giants like Tesco and Asda increased their operating profits last year by 66%.

We’re not in a ‘cost of living crisis’ – we’re in a ‘cost of GREED crisis’.

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) October 19, 2025

In October, the supermarkets came together to threaten retaliatory price rises against shoppers in the event that the chancellor should raise their taxes. So not only are Labour failing to stand up to the price gougers, they’re also being pushed around by them.

Of course people are going to judge Starmer now when we can all see where this is heading.

Featured image via House of Commons

By Willem Moore

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