As Starmer’s first year ends in crisis, now comes a bigger battle

By the time polls closed at 10pm on 4 July 2024, the Labour Party knew they were likely to return to government – even if they could not quite bring themselves to believe it.

For Sir Keir Starmer, reminiscing 10 months later in an interview with me, it was an “incredible moment”. Instantly, he said, he was “conscious of the sense of responsibility”. And yes, he confessed, a little annoyed that his landslide victory was not quite as big as Sir Tony Blair’s had been in 1997.

“I’m hugely competitive,” the prime minister said. “Whether it’s on the football pitch, whether it is in politics or any other aspect of life.”

Sir Keir watched the exit poll with a small group of advisers as well as his wife, Victoria, and his two…