Labour’s first post-socialist leader?

Abstract

When I heard that Verso had published a book about Keir Starmer, I was initially surprised, just as I had been when I heard a fellow Soundings editor refer to ‘Starmerism’ at a recent conference. Would there be anything interesting enough to fill an entire book about Labour’s current leader, I wondered, and was there any variety of ideology, justifying the term ‘ism’, which could be attributed to him? But in fact, Oliver Eagleton’s book is well-researched, interesting and valuable. It does not, however, enhance one’s opinion of its subject.