Yvette Cooper, the current Health Secretary, has offered a critical assessment of the Labour party's performance in government during Keir Starmer's tenure, suggesting that the party "hasn't done government very well." Cooper's remarks, made on the Political Currency podcast hosted by George Osborne, come after she was moved from her previous roles as Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary under Starmer to her current position by the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Cooper contrasted Starmer's leadership style with that of Burnham. She described Starmer's approach as demanding that cabinet ministers "bring me solutions, not problems," a method she questioned the efficacy of in the political arena. "I'm not sure you can do that in politics," Cooper stated. She also criticized Starmer for making significant policy announcements independently, even when he had not been deeply involved in their development.
"I don't think we have done government very well in the last couple of years," Cooper reflected. While acknowledging that Labour had pursued important initiatives and made progress, such as increasing neighborhood police numbers and reducing NHS waiting lists, she noted a shift in focus. "We had missions in the first six months, and then they kind of disappeared," she said. Cooper suggested that a leadership style focused on bringing solutions might be more suited to other institutional settings, like legal or judicial environments, rather than the problem-centric nature of politics.
She recounted an instance when, as Home Secretary, Downing Street wanted Starmer to announce Labour's plans to reduce legal migration unilaterally. "That was the way the No10 operated," she recalled, adding that the Prime Minister would lead the announcement despite limited involvement in policy formulation.
In contrast, Cooper praised Prime Minister Andy Burnham's approach, citing his recent speech on social care. "The energy behind doing social care, a lot of that has come from Andy," she stated. Cooper highlighted Burnham's willingness to engage with problems and collaborate on solutions, a style she contrasted with Starmer's. "He wanted to then talk a lot about what's the problems here. How should we be thinking about it? How should we be trying to solve it?" she explained, noting that Burnham wanted her to be an active participant in launching and discussing the policy, indicating a difference in operational style.