It was Harold Wilson who said, more than half a century ago, ‘a week is a long time in politics.’ It has been a long week on both sides of the Pond. Joe Biden is facing increasing calls to step down from his candidacy in the November election. I would never under any circumstances vote for Donald Trump, but it is clear that many will, so the over-riding strategy must be to find someone who will beat him in November, whether that is Biden or someone else. However, I want to focus on this side of the Pond.

It has been a record-breaking week in the history of UK elections, with Labour winning 411 seats (+ the Speaker), a record for their percentage of the vote, the Tories winning 121, the lowest in over a century, and 335 of 650 MPs taking their seat for the first time – unknown in several centuries. The records also include the highest number of female MPs and LGBT+ MPs. But it is the two leaders who are the subject of this blog, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. Sunak has resigned as PM and Tory party leader, while Starmer is the new PM and has quickly formed a cabinet, with some of the new faces coming in at lower levels of government. How do they match up to the adage, ‘fail to prepare and prepare to fail’?

It all began on a rainy day in Downing Street, when an increasingly wet and uncomfortable Sunak made the announcement that Parliament was being dissolved and an election was being held on 4 July. First, he did not prepare for the weather, and the optics of the announcement were not lost on viewers,. They were rammed home by the bad press that followed. (For his resignation speech on the same spot, his wife was carrying one just in case. But, of course, it never rains when you are prepared for it!) More importantly, he had not prepared his colleagues and campaign managers for the announcement, so they were caught on the hop having planned for an autumn election. Some local constituencies had not even selected their candidates and found themselves hard up against the deadline for nominations.

Forgetting about the weather, D-Day, betting, and the fact that they would probably have lost in the autumn anyway, this was a campaign that they were almost bound to lose because of the lack of preparation. Tories everywhere had to run to catch up, and never did. Lots of photo-shot opportunities went wrong because no-one told Sunak that Wales was not in the Euros, or that sheep are not really very good at coming to strangers, and the like. It seemed that lack of preparation and foresight at every turn led to one disaster after another. Sunak is a prime example of what happens when one fails to prepare.

Starmer was the exact opposite. Listening to the BBC Newscast profile of Starmer, it was very clear that he is a hard-working details person and ruthless with it. Having sorted the intra-party issues, at the start of this year he got all his shadow cabinet to start working up policies on issues that he would face them if they won the election. He had former senior civil servant Sue Gray hired as Chief of Staff in 2023 to help the shadow cabinet understand how the civil service works and how best to create policies that will be fit for implementation. He has also been talking to people across the land about their priorities, and consulting with the business community. When the election gun was fired, the campaigners were ready to go. He and his teams were fully prepared for whenever the election was called and for the aftermath.

What has been interesting to see since the 5^th July is that Starmer has effectively co-opted a few expert non-parliamentarians to serve in government as peers, so that they can help to shape policy from a scientific and experiential point of view. Several who have returned to Parliament after a period of absence have also been included in government, such as former Cabinet Minister Douglas Alexander. The new PM appears to have put together a talented team with the principle of service at its core. We will see how that turns out. All I can say is that, while I wanted the Tories out after the disasters of the last several years, I was unsure what kind of team could be assembled to replace them. Seeing events unfold, I have been reassured on that point for the time being, and wish them all the best as they seek to change for the better the lives of the many, not the few. It is further reassuring that Larry the cat has retained his seat around the Cabinet table as Chief Mouser.