Jeremy Corbyn was Received 'Like the Beatles' But I Back Keir Starmer, says Steve Rotherham
Labour's Liverpool City Region Mayor tells Byline that he backs Keir Starmer, even if he is not the "most charismatic" of politicians
Jeremy Corbyn’s one-time parliamentary aide Steve Rotherham has told Byline that supporters of the former Labour leader acclaimed him “like a member of the Beatles” – but believes that the less “charismatic” approach of his successor Keir Starmer will yield better results at the ballot box.
In an exclusive interview with the Byline Times Podcast, Rotherham – previously MP for Liverpool Walton and now elected Mayor of the Liverpool City Region – acknowledges that Corbyn had the ability to enthuse the party’s grass roots.
“When we were walking into some of these big events, it was a bit like going back to the Beatles – as if Paul McCartney had walked into the room. [There] was whooping and screaming and gnashing of teeth”, he recalls.
But Rotherham argues that Corbyn’s popularity with activists sometimes blinded him to wider political realities: “He was talking to people who were acolytes, who were devotees of his type of policy.
“What you sometimes need to understand is that not everybody feels as strongly for you as those people that we were regularly meeting.”
Rotherham insists that the ex-leader had some “fantastic ideas”, but having backed Andy Burnham’s unsuccessful leadership bid against Corbyn in 2015, he’s now supporting Starmer’s less demonstrative style.
“Keir is very different to Andy or Jeremy” he acknowledges.
“He's more forensic I’d say, and he knows what he wants to do. He knows that sometimes the way in which he has to do that might not be the absolute purity of his belief, but he wants to do it because he believes in the greater good.
“I think there's something to be said, for that. I am not certain that Keir would describe himself as the most charismatic man on the planet. But do you know what? Boris Johnson might describe himself thus and we don't need somebody like him running our country.
“We need somebody who will be strong and stable and sensible. And if that means that some of that charisma is put aside, then that's probably a good thing because we need politics to reconnect with ordinary people.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Rotherham who was elected Mayor in 2017, also calls for greater devolution to the English regions, including the possibility of tax raising powers, arguing that the government has so far only delivered ‘decentralisation’.
Plans for levelling up, he says, are “just a soundbite… it's hyperbole that has never really done what it says on the tin.”
And he adds, “we are the most politically centralised country in the OECD. And yet we have the most unbalanced economy in the whole of Europe. I think those two things are intrinsically linked.”
Listen to the full interview here.
JC should come back and run he got a raw deal in the Labour hierarchy.
I would take issue with some of Steve Rotheram's points.He talks of supporting Keir Starmers less demonstrative style. Surely that is exactly what Labour needs , some passion to call out the appalling ineq ualities and injustices that exist in Britain today. Does he want to be Prime Minister if so demonstrate he does.Steve also talks about Keirs belief in the greater good ,what does that mean to the electorate.Jeremy at least had a vision that people could feel passionate about and believe in .Was it just to the far left that he gave hope for real change?