Yet Starmer’s position may be more perilous than it seems.
Luke Tryl, director of polling group More in Common, said the flurry of ethics stories had the potential to “really hurt” the prime minister because “part of Starmer’s core appeal was that [the public] saw him as the antidote to [the] sleaze that dogged the last Tory government.”
Crucially, Labour came to power on an historically low share of the national vote, winning a large number of seats with only very narrow majorities.
The average Labour MP now has a majority of 7,000, down from 12,000 at the last election, according to an analysis by the Tony Blair Institute, which points out a swing of 4 per cent against Labour would mean the party loses its majority in 2029.
Furthermore, the British electorate has shown itself to be increasingly volatile over recent years. The party has already taken a hit in polls carried out since the election, with half of voters saying they are disappointed in the Labour government so far.
Anti-politics parties such as Reform UK on the right, and the Green Party on the left, could only benefit from the missteps of recent weeks, Tryl warned.
