The Starmer Symptom

‘A vital kickback against national decline. Essential, devastating, and often very funny’ Alex Niven, Editor, Tribune magazine

‘Packed with insightful commentary The Starmer Symptom pinpoints the reasons why Labour is failing to reverse the rise of the Far Right agenda’ Cat Arnold, member of the Labour Party NEC

‘Labour needs to break out of Labourism and remake itself as part of a broader pluralist bloc. Here is the book that brilliantly explains why’ Alan Finlayson, Chair of the Editorial Board, Renewal

On 4th July, 2024, fourteen years of Tory gross mismanagement of government, economy and society came to a crashing end. Keir Starmer’s Labour government was elected with a landslide.

However, this was more about the Tories losing than Labour winning. The old assumptions have been torn up, and as Starmer’s Labour continues to disappoint, the end of the two-party system heralds a new era of political volatility unseen for generations.

The Starmer Symptom navigates the complex terrain of this seismic shift in British politics. How can Labour effect the kind of change our society and climate requires? Has Starmer created the basis for the rise of Reform UK? What alternative is there to the neoliberal present, and future? Why is Labour pursuing austerity economics?

Mark Perryman previously edited the collections The Blair Agenda, The Moderniser’s Dilemma and The Corbyn Effect. He is a pioneer of a left culture rooted in the convivial and participative rather than command and control.

© 2025 Pluto Press (Ebook): 9780745351100

Release date

Ebook: August 20, 2025