All prime ministers bring their own personality and approach to the job. Each has a different style of leadership, which can shape how things work and what gets done. Herbert Asquith famously summed it up when he said being prime minister is all about “what the holder chooses and is able to make of it”.
Want more election coverage from The Conversation’s academic experts? Over the coming weeks, we’ll bring you informed analysis of developments in the campaign and we’ll fact check the claims being made. We do know that Starmer only became a member of parliament in 2015, so, at 52, was a relative latecomer to politics. He has spent the entirety of his political career in opposition. His predecessors, going back to Theresa May, came to the role with substantial experience of being a government minister .
Starmer’s experience as DPP implies an emphasis on delivering. We can expect him to focus on fixing problems, finding solutions, and getting things done. We can also perhaps expect more emphasis on outcomes and an end to the politicisation and battles with the bureaucratic machinery of government that characterised the previous administration.
He has hinted at being a consultative leader: “The best decisions I’ve made in my life were those held up to the light and that survived scrutiny. The worst were when nobody said ‘boo’”. However his penchant for “undersharing”, as noted by his deputy Angela Rayner, may mean he keeps decision-making concentrated in a small group of confidants.
But one truism of political leadership is that what begins as a strength ends as a weakness. Lots of the fault lines within the Labour party are already visible, from child poverty to Gaza. Other issues are bubbling away. Starmer’s ability to float above the fray can’t last, and there are likely to be plots and challenges .