739 days after he was elected in the biggest Labour majority since 1997, it’s Keir Starmer’s last week as prime minister.
When the former human rights barrister arrived in Downing Street in June 2024, he had a net approval rating of -3. One hundred days later, he sat at -26. The PM never managed to reverse the trend, making history in June 2025 with a rating of -66 – the lowest net approval rating recorded by Ipsos for any prime minister going back to 1977.
Meanwhile, as Mr Starmer clears out his desk, Andy Burnham prepares to step up. His current polling shows a divided or uncertain public. On 24 June, YouGov reported Mr Burnham’s net approval rating as -4, with 29% of Britons still unsure how they feel about the incoming leader. Will his first 100 days spell a repeat of frustration and disappointment?
In the latest episode of In The Room, former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara issued a stark warning to Mr Burnham: leave the Tories alone, and stop describing problems. “Starmer had all the hopes of an electorate who’d decided they’d had enough of the Conservatives, and all the favourable conditions to succeed. Instead, the Labour party spent the first six months retelling us what we all already knew, that the country was in a sticky situation.
“They didn’t spend any time winning the win. They were still shouting about the Conservatives being terrible, for what felt like months. We got that message – that’s why you’re in Downing Street. Stop telling us how rubbish the other guys were, who, by the way, we all voted for, too. Who are you trying to impress with telling us we’ve all been idiots?”
Helen’s co-host and ex-No 10 special advisor Cleo Watson argues Labour’s key error was getting so distracted by trying to win that they forgot to plan anything. “I heard about this crazy scene on day one. The political team sat down with the new civil servants, and both sides said: ‘What’s the plan?’
“Everyone remembers Labour’s resets, the pillars, milestones, and markers. This constant need to redefine their goals is part of why this government became a blueprint for failure. Needing to reestablish a plan is a sign that there never was one.”
Helen says Mr Burnham should also make sure he understands what it actually means to be the prime minister. “In the first 100 days, there was a kind of shyness towards the role of prime minister. Like, you are the guy. You have extraordinary amounts of power, and right from the off, I don’t think Keir Starmer was comfortable with exercising that, and I don’t think he ever recovered.”
Similarly vital is the need to actually have a personality, both hosts agree. Helen notes that since his resignation, Mr Starmer has been ‘quite funny’. He’s tweeting World Cup jabs at other prime ministers. At the Downing Street Pride event, he smiled while calling his parliament ‘the gayest ever’. Even Rachel Reeves seems to have started taking the whole thing less seriously, telling Laura Kuenssberg that her best piece of advice for the next chancellor is “don’t cry on national television.”
If Burnham wants to succeed, personality and charm are vital, Helen says. It’s good for favourability with the public, sure, but it’ll also be a lifeline within his own team when he inevitably has to let people down. “There were 250 MPs in that selfie [he took in Westminster hall]. There are not 250 jobs.
“There’s going to be a lot of disappointed people, and he has to make them feel like there’s great hope for them in the future. That political capital needs to be built up to the maximum and hoarded and spent very carefully from now on in.”
Cleo agrees, and stresses how quickly Mr Burnham must act. “You haven’t, actually, got 100 days. The honeymoon phase is getting shorter and shorter. The rainy days are coming. Life’s going to get harder from here, so you have to move.”
Helen cringes. “You sound like Starmer in 2024.”
Listen to the full episode of In The Room on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or watch on YouTube.
