Sir Anthony Seldon, right, thinks it will be difficult for Sir Keir Starmer to recover (Image: PA/Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has been ripped apart by a leading political historian who suggested the Prime Minister was “damaged property” after an “alarmingly precipitous” collapse in popularity. Sir Anthony Seldon tore into the PM for the second time in two days, telling GB News the “skates are under” the Labour leader and that he would find it “very difficult” to recover.
But the biographer of every prime minister since Sir John Major said it would be too disruptive for the country if Sir Keir were to be deposed this year, because it would mean an unprecedented eighth leader in just 15 years. The author and former head teacher said that throughout political history, “to be this unpopular this quickly … is very, very unusual”. Sir Keir’s personal popularity has plummeted since he took office after last year’s thumping General Election victory after he launched a series of controversial policies, including taking the winter fuel allowance away from most pensioners.
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'That would be eight different prime ministers in just 15 years'
Sir Anthony Seldon points out the instability of Britain's recent governments, which would be compounded if Keir Starmer were to be ousted. pic.twitter.com/Mo1Wdb7tXb
— GB News (@GBNEWS) June 28, 2025
In May, his net approval rating plunged to -46%, although it has since improved to -36%.
Asked if it was possible for Sir Keir to turn around his fortunes, Sir Anthony said: “It’s very difficult.
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“Once you lose confidence in the country and above all where your own MPs lose confidence in you, and the media pick that up in part because they’re telling the media what it’s like inside the parliamentary party or inside No 10, you really do have the skates under you.
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“Once you’ve lost the confidence and trust, it’s as if you’ve got a sign hanging over you saying ‘damaged property’ and people are just waiting for that moment to come.”
Sir Anthony pointed out that Sir John never recovered his authority after Black Wednesday in 1992, when Britain was forced to withdraw from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Similarly, he said Gordon Brown never regained his standing in the polls after failing to call an expected general election in 2007, leading to claims he had “bottled it”.
But the historian said of Sir Keir: “From another perspective, it would not be good for the country if he were to go and have a successor say in the autumn. It would be eight different prime ministers in 15 years.
“That is without precedent. This is not good for democracy. It’s not good for economic stability. It’s not good for the perception of Britain abroad as a trading nation, as a credible partner.
“Many people would want him to go, I’m sure, but from a national perspective it would be better if he were somehow to pull out of this and show a commitment to growth.”
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He added that “nothing matters more” than getting the economy to grow because it has been “flatlining since 2008”. He also said the country needs to “feel a sense of growing prosperity for themselves and their children rather than anxiety”.
Just a day earlier, Sir Anthony said of Sir Keir on BBC Newsnight: “No Labour prime minister, certainly not since 1945, has begun so badly.”
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The writer said the PM had “begun with such ignorance of history and how you conduct yourself as prime minister” and was incapable of presenting a vision of where he was taking the country.
Referring to Sir Keir’s latest U-turn on benefit cuts, Sir Anthony said: “If there was a clear vision that he’d laid out, a story about where he is taking the Labour Government and the country, people perhaps might understand why this cut was necessary. But there have been so many flip-flops, they don’t get it.
“It tells a story of a fundamentally incompetent prime minister. He’s repeating the same mistakes.”