Watch out Keir! The Starmtroopers are starting to think for themselves ...Middle East

When the Conservatives were last in government, there was a phrase that caused alarm like no other: “research group”. The European Research Group started off as a meeting of like-minded Brexiteers but soon became a pressure group that forced Theresa May’s hand during the EU negotiations. Inspired by its impact, MPs with other causes to pursue soon came up their own caucuses from the China Research Group (wanting a harder line against Beijing) to the Northern Research Group looking for more funds.

So far Keir Starmer has managed to avoid a research group per se – but the number of caucuses and pressure groups of Labour MPs is ratcheting up and fast. A sign of the changing attitudes in the Parliamentary Labour Party can be found in the arrival of various groupings from the “Red Wall” group to a new Blue Labour outfit. Not all are intended to be helpful.

This wasn’t how it was meant to go. When Starmer became Labour leader, his team quickly set about trying to improve the party’s candidates list. They looked to American politics in this instance as a model of what to avoid. In the US “the squad” – a group of four Democrat congresswomen – including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – had become an internal opposition within the party. The four outspoken politicians were happy to criticise their own side – including their own Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

For Starmer’s team, it was a lesson in what not to do. So, candidate selection became a key plank of his team’s plan to show the Labour Party has changed. New vetting procedures were brought in to stop troublesome candidates – both in terms of behaviour and politics. The desired candidates were largely centrist or coming from the professions.

They were dubbed the Starmtroopers – Labout politicians ready to serve no matter how small the majority might be. They were given MP training sessions where there was rarely a hostile question asked. In the end, Starmer did not need to fret: he won a a sizeable majority. But six months in, he has a problem: the Starmtroopers are starting to think for themselves.

The new intake may have been assumed to be identikit MPs who would loyally follow Starmer’s orders. But No 10 are fast discovering that even a landslide victory does not secure long-lasting loyalty. Boris Johnson had a similar discovery after the 2019 Tory election win – his Red Wall MPs soon moved from seeing him as the answer to the problem as the party fell back in the polls.

After a tricky start to Government that kicked off with a decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance and now sees Starmer facing a backlash over the Chagos Islands deal, there is little love to go around. “A lot of MPs are raging,” says a Government source. “They think they will lose their seat at this rate.”

Labour's attempts to silence MPs are a big mistake

“It’s strange, the so-called Starmtroopers don’t have a personal loyalty to Keir,” says a Labour aide. “They don’t see him as being key to their victory.”

Some of this is self-inflicted. MPs complain they don’t get enough access to the Prime Minister. What’s more, the promotion of Labour royalty such as Georgia Gould and Hamish Falconer to ministerial roles early on has led to envy from colleagues. In a bid to raise morale, PPSs – the glorified bag-carrier job often given to new MPs – are now allowed to do media where there were restrictions before.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed that four of the Labour MPs suspended for rebelling over the two-child benefit cap have had the whip restored – including former shadow Corbynite ministers – Richard Burgon and Rebecca Long-Bailey. “They want to show there is a way back for good behaviour,” says one MP.

But Starmer is encountering a less malleable parliamentary party than he might have anticipated. Soon after the election, 50 MPs formed the Labour growth group which pledged to help support the Government’s endeavours. At the time, a party aide said: “Everyone needs to calm down about this group, it’s not a formal gathering – they write occasional letters.”

But while the growth group is fairly supportive, other groupings highlight the tensions in the party. The Red Wall group of around 40 MPs in Red Wall seats this week requested a meeting with the Prime Minister. They want to see a strong line on immigration and more investment. The group’s leader is Jo White, the MP for Bassetlaw. He has made critical noises about the party’s messaging on immigration: “We are not telling a strong story about what we are achieving.”

With Reform surging in the polls, No 10 don’t need a bunch of anxious MPs to realise they have a problem. But as one minister puts it: “Too many of us have different opponents in our seats. For some, it is Tory, for others Reform and then there’s the pro-Gaza candidates. It’s hard to address all that with a coherent message.”

Meet the Starmtroopers – the bright young MPs set to shine in Labour's new era

Then there’s the Blue Labour group – which includes Dan Carden, the MP for Liverpool Walton, formerly a member of the socialist Campaign Group, which had gone out of vogue in recent years. This new caucus wants to push for a socially conservative but economically left-wing approach. Carden has said “progressive politics” has “threatened communities”. The initial handling of the grooming gangs scandal has been a cause of criticism among some of these MPs.

How will this Blue Labour approach come up against the Spending Review? In Government there is growing concern. The Bank of England this week in its rate update slashed its growth forecasts. Ministers are braced for unappetising decisions on spending. “There are going to be real term cuts and that means a return to austerity,” says one Government aide.

If that comes to pass, Starmer shouldn’t rely on his Starmtroopers to go out and loyally hold the line. Instead, he may find the opposite – an army of Labour MPs ready to turn their fire on him.

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