Labour's landslide victory is a personal triumph for Keir Starmer that once seemed impossible

London
CNN

The Labour Parties resounding victory in UK general election marks a historic moment in modern British political history and a huge personal triumph for Keir Starmer, the Labour leader who will become the country's next prime minister.

Starmers' victory, with a triple-digit majority in parliament, is all the more remarkable given how far Labour has come since last general elections in 2019The party then suffered its worst loss in a generation under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who ran on a far-left platform.

A return to credibility and even competitiveness in a general election seemed potentially a decade away, as the Conservatives emerged triumphant from the carnage of Brexit under the charismatic leadership of Boris Johnson.

Johnson not only defeated his political rivals, but completely upended the norms of British politics. Under his leadership, his party won seats in traditionally working-class Labour constituencies that were once considered inaccessible to the Conservatives. For at least a year, he seemed untouchable.

It was in this context that Starmer took control of a struggling Labour Party on 4 April 2020. That day, David Lammy, one of his Labour colleagues, took him aside and warned Starmer: “Set yourself a 10-year cycle. You could just lose the next election, and then you can go again.”

According to Lammy, Starmer smiled and said: “No, I can do it in five minutes.”

Even Starmer could not have predicted what would happen between the end of 2021 and Thursday night.

The Conservatives have succumbed to repeated self-inflicted wounds, starting with the Partygate scandal, when Downing Street staff organised illegal gatherings while the rest of the country was under strict lockdown measures linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Johnson would cling to power until the summer of 2022 despite what seemed to be daily calls for his resignation. His successor Liz Truss would deliver unfunded tax cuts that would throw the economy into turmoil and force her to resign after just 49 days in office. Rishi Sunak would replace her in late 2022, but by then most in the Conservative Party had accepted that it was over.

During this period, Starmer held firm and firmly dragged Labour to the centre of British politics with moderate policies designed not to scare off Conservative voters.

Critics within his party say he has not put forward a sufficiently exciting programme for government. They fear that Starmer's moderate policies of fiscal responsibility and good manners will not inspire enthusiasm among voters and that in five years' time, at the next election, he will fall victim to a right-wing populist surge.

Their fears may not be unfounded: one of the main subplots of the evening was the rise of the right-wing populist Reform UK party, led by the only Brexit supporter more famous than Johnson and a notorious friend of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage.

For months, it has been speculated that Starmer’s victory was partly due to widespread disdain for the Conservatives after 14 years in power. Farage’s return to the political spotlight during the election campaign led to an even sharper split in the right-wing vote, allowing Starmer to move to the centre in key constituencies and secure an even more comfortable majority.

In other words, Starmer’s victory does not necessarily mean that the public supports him personally or is enthusiastic about Labour’s legislative agenda. That could become a problem once he takes office. It has long been clear that the public wants change above all else.

For all these reasons, it is reasonable to say that this victory is not without reservations. The populist threat is real, the Conservative Party is far from being crushed and the Labour majority is not as large as some polls had predicted in the days leading up to the election.

Starmer won’t worry too much about that for now. He’s heading for a parliamentary majority so large that he can push through his agenda with ease, and he’ll have all the machinery of state to help him govern. It’s a level of power that seemed beyond the reach of any Labour leader, let alone a boring lawyer, not so long ago. And after 14 years in the wilderness, that will be enough for many Labour members for now.