My advice to Sir Keir: 'We don't need a regular bloke PM - we need you to focus on the job', writes Andy Coulson
3 July 2024, 15:39 | Updated: 3 July 2024, 15:40
In the final hours of the non-stop-fun-fest that has been Election ’24 there are signs that the man destined to win is not as prepared for power as you might expect.
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Sir Keir Starmer’s declarations that he will not work after 6pm on a Friday and continue his weekly five-a-side footie will have caused his tough and very able chief-of-staff Sue Gray to deliver a trademark ‘yeah right’ look.
Let’s be clear. No-one actually believes that a Prime Minister, especially of the newly minted variety, will down tools at the end of the working week. It’s nonsense.
But in suggesting that the Do Not Disturb sign will be hanging on the door of the Downing Street flat, Sir Keir has been more than a bit naïve.
In trying to look more human he has allowed his critics an easy headline … a mistake that as PM he needs to quickly learn to avoid.
Blocking out Friday night events I get – though even with that pledge I wish him luck. The more pressing issue will be getting away from his desk downstairs. As anyone who runs their own business – let alone the country – knows, knocking off early on a Friday night is the stuff of work/life balance dreams.
Instead, he will – like most of us – have to grab those precious moments alone with his family when he can. Holidays are different and his diary team should be protective of those occasions, although even then the interruptions will be constant.
With his promise to carry on playing five-a-side, Sir Keir’s comms team see the opportunity for some pictures of him looking like the vital, regular bloke they wants us all to think he is. Except he will soon cease to be a regular bloke.
He’ll be our Prime Minister and that means that blocking out time each week for a kickabout is totally impractical and possibly even dangerous.
The first people to point this out will be the small group of individuals who are about to become a permanent presence in his and his family’s life … the Downing Street close protection team.
Even if they make up the other four players in No10 FC (or Inter Yapension anyone?), they’ll not be able to provide the total security he’ll soon need.
I remember my former boss David Cameron kicking back against the restrictions of close protection. His refusal to have outriders I rather agreed with, but when he suggested that he wanted life to continue much as it did before with a chance to chillax, he was always on a loser.
My advice to Sir Keir is this: We don’t need another regular nice guy in our lives. We need a focused, dedicated, won’t-stop-until-the-job-is-done Prime Minister. Make that your brand please and deliver on it.
Andy Coulson is the former Downing Street Communications Director, founder of strategic advisers Coulson Partners and host of the Crisis What Crisis podcast.
