On Monday Keir Starmer launched a five-day mission to hammer home the message that Labour is getting tough on migration with a new strategy and a high-profile trip to Albania
It’s been an evenful week for Keir Starmer.
His five-day mission was to hammer home the message that Labour is getting tough on migration. It’s fair to say it had its ups and downs.
The highs included a call with Donald Trump alongside Volodymyr Zelensky, a migration plan that won praise in unlikely quarters and some crowd pleasing measures to tackle smuggling gangs. But comparisons with notorious Tory racist Enoch Powell, confusion over an announcement that Albania’s 6ft 7in leader appeared to immediately – and publicly – reject and having to torpedo suggestions that Mr Starmer might quit weren’t part of the plan.
The unpredictable string of events started unusually early on Monday morning in a Downing Street briefing room and ended on a rainy day in the Balkans surrounded by bemused hacks. As a spectator of events in both countries I’ll try and make sense of it all.
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Reeling from a poor showing in the local elections, and a painful by-election defeat to Nigel Farage’s Reform, Downing Street decided to get stuck in. Journalists were summoned for a press conference at 8.30am on Monday for the release of the Government’s long awaited migration plan, which set out how Mr Starmer intends to drive down numbers that spiralled under the Tories.
After inheriting absolute bedlam in the asylum system and having to contend with Mr Farage and co trying to sell easy, hardline fixes – such as migrants in tents – getting on the front foot has never been more important.
Many of the measures – such as strict new language and qualification rules, longer waits for those wanting to permanently settle and tougher measures to deport foreign national criminals – are the sort of red meat that could turn the heads of potential Reform voters.
Some ideas, such as scrapping social care visas, may prove a bit more problematic. But it was the Prime Minister’s choice of words that got everyone talking. Along nicking the Brexit campaign’s “take back control” line, Mr Starmer declared the UK was at risk of becoming an “island of strangers”. It drew agreement from Tory hardliner Robert Jenrick and was almost instantly condemned by left-wing Labour MPs and human rights groups.
But the headline-grabbing pitch turned into a nightmare for No10 spinners after similarities were spotted with Powell’s 1968 ‘rivers of blood’ speech. The soon-to-be-sacked Conservative frontbencher declared Britons were becoming “strangers in their own country”.
Labour’s Lord Alf Dubs – who fled the Nazis as a child refugee – said he was “disappointed” Mr Starmer had chosen the words. No10 was forced to deny deliberately echoing Powell after the comparison was made on the Commons floor.
But Downing Street was likely pleased overall with how the plan landed. It was predicted to cut 100,000 from net migration figures every year – a figure that peaked at nearly one million under the Tories.
With plans to tackle legal migration thrust out into the world, in the middle of the week the focus shifted to irregular arrivals – in particular small boats. This was one of the key things Mr Starmer wanted to discuss when he boarded a plane to Tirana, Albania’s capital, with a small number of journalists, including the Mirror.
It’s an issue that voters care about, so this was an opportunity for the PM to flex his muscles. On Wednesday night we learned there would be British drones, fraud detection machines and improved intelligence sharing to stop gangsters smuggling people through the Western Balkans. A taskforce aimed at tackling traffickers will be beefed up, No10 said, and this would close off routes to would-be asylum seekers hoping to reach Britain.
It seems logical – even if it ignores the argument that expanding safe routes would break the business model of these gangs. But the following morning things took a surreal turn.
The day started with Mr Starmer being shown around the Port of Durres, where he met National Crime Agency (NCA) officers and Albanian police to learn about efforts to tackle smuggling. The PM watched as a drone was flown over an arriving ferry to check for contraband being dumped in the water, and saw a seized car being swept for drugs and cash.
So far so good. But No10 also chose this moment to announce the Government was opening talks with several unnamed nations about so-called “return hubs”. In a nutshell these would be detention centres overseas where failed asylum seekers would be dispatched before being removed to their homelands. Albania has a similar agreement with Italy, and has been mooted as a potential partner for the UK as well.
Imagine our surprise then when the enormous Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, declared it was a non-starter and the Italian deal was a “one-off”. Why then, members of the travelling pack pondered, did the Government chose to make the announcement in Albania if – as the Government insists – it was never an option? And why not be clearer beforehand? The questions were left hanging long after the wheels were up and we were on our way home.
Talks have been opened with several other countries, Mr Starmer insisted, but refused to say which ones, leaving him with some tricky headlines.
Mr Rama also seemed to have a dig over the amount of trade between the two nations, likening his country’s share to the value of the Crystal Palace team. He would not have known that of the handful of reporters there were two Palace fans – myself included – unsure if he was paying the FA Cup finalists a compliment or taking a swipe.
There was more tricky news when a senior source within Government suggested that it may take until next year to see a fall in small boat crossings. That’s a long time for new measures – including better relations with France – to pay off, and the public is growing impatient.
There was some good news too, the insider said, with French authorities set to intervene in shallow waters to stop vessels getting out to sea. They also insisted that “upstream” work across Europe and counter-terrorism style powers to bring down trafficking gangs will deliver results – as long as people are prepared to wait.
But the Home Office insisted action was being taken now to cut small boat crossings. A spokesman said: “We are taking immediate action to drive down small boat numbers – now and in the future.”
By this time Mr Starmer had also started a frenzy by not giving a clear answer when asked if he would stand in the next election.
Mr Starmer set hares running when he said “you’re getting way ahead of me” to the question from GB News, forcing No10 to scramble to clear it up. The PM later pledged that he would carry on, saying he intended to lead “a decade of national renewal.”
On Friday Mr Starmer was on safer ground, joining more than 40 leaders from across the continent at the European Political Community summit. Ukraine’s President Zelensky was there, and during a meeting with their counterparts from France, Germany and Poland Mr Starmer decided to call Mr Trump. The fact the conversation took place at all shows they are “a very tightly coordinated group now” he later told The Mirror.
But there was room for some late drama. A source close to the Prime Minister claimed Mr Starmer now sees Reform as the “real opposition” and said he would happily go head-to-head with Mr Farage in a TV debate. Needless to say when reports broke the right-wing rabble rouser gleefully accepted.
And moments before reporters caught up with Mr Starmer, the i newspaper broke a story claiming that plans to water down the winter fuel payment cut were being drawn up. Pressed by a fellow reporter from the Daily Express, the PM three times refused to explicitly say the report was untrue.
But he did insist the measure – which has been deeply unpopular with pensioners and Labour backbenchers – was the right thing todo. Watch this space.
It made a number of front pages, including The Mirror’s the following morning. What a week to have a front row seat.
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