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Labour’s journey to ‘private-sector government’
Four years on from Starmer launching his Labour leadership campaign, COLL McCAIL takes stock of where the party is now and what the future might hold for mass politics
Labour leader Keir Starmer gives a keynote speech marking the four-year anniversary of the 2019 election, at Silverstone Technology Park, near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, December 12, 2023

DURING a fringe event at last year’s Labour conference, Jim Murphy offered his insight into how Keir Starmer would govern. 

“I think they’ll be the first truly private-sector Labour government,” said the former Scottish Labour leader, admitting Labour intended to govern from the centre. 

His reflections are not ill-informed. For a politician in search of power, Starmer has kept Murphy — who oversaw the near complete wipeout of Scottish Labour at the 2015 general election — remarkably close. 

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