No longer “two tier Keir” is our PM now “never here Keir” ?
According to today’s Times, some Labour ministers have urged Starmer, who has been nicknamed by some colleagues “never here Keir”, to delegate more to David Lammy and Yvette Cooper, the deputy prime minister and the foreign secretary.
By the end of the month, Starmer will have spent a sixth of his premiership on foreign trips and completed six laps of the earth. Ministers have called for him to “get off the plane” and focus on the UK.
The prime minister has travelled more and further than any other British leader in official history, including almost double the distance that Sir Tony Blair covered in the same period in office .
Starmer has visited 44 countries on 37 trips out of the country to attend conferences, bilateral meetings and sports fixtures. During his first 17 months in office, Starmer has spent two and a half months abroad.
There’s enough going wrong in this country surely to warrant keeping a closer eye on things, a firmer hand on the proverbial tiller?
