UK Prime Minister's insecurity will be his downfall

The UK Prime Minister, Sir Kier Starmer, is an insecure man, in my opinion. He might even suffer from imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is the persistent belief that your achievements are accidental, fragile, or undeserved. You feel like a fraud waiting to be exposed, even when evidence shows you’re capable. It creates self‑doubt, anxiety, and a tendency to minimise success, pushing you to overwork while never feeling genuinely competent.

Why do I believe this? Because he clings to political associates and friends and refuses to sack them (but fastidiously sacks civil servants to pass the buck). The classic is the Mandelson affair in which he appointed Mandelson against all rational assessments because he was friendly with Mandelson and wanted a friend on the other side of the 'pond' to deal with the impossible Trump.

Starmer insisted on Mandelson's appointment before vetting against advice. The whole affair has been extensively reported. The world knows the gory details.

And he hired his cabinet members because he is friendly with them and he refuses to sack them - the chancellor, Reeves, comes to mind - when they are screwing up. He is robustly loyal to his cabinet members. He must know that Reeves has to go but refuses to countenance it.

He stays loyal because he needs them as much as they need him. He needs them to reassure him. To create a buffer to the real and now hostile British public who have largely given up on Starmer. He is a dead duck. A dead man walking. A dud.

Note: the Mandelson problem has strained his relations with cabinet members, perhaps to breaking point in some instances.

Starmer is deeply unpopular with the British public. UK pollsters (YouGov and Statista), both reporting –45 as his latest net favourability/approval score. Polling organisations report Starmer’s popularity using net approval ratings, which currently sit around the mid‑negative range. Surveys show more people express unfavourable than favourable views, producing consistently negative net approval scores that indicate widespread public dissatisfaction at this point in time.

Several UK polling trackers note that Keir Starmer’s current net approval rating is lower than Liz Truss’s rating at the end of her premiership, which was typically reported in the –30s to –40s depending on the pollster.

He is attacked daily, hourly in fact. He was insecure before becoming the PM and now it is worse.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.