Britain | Bagehot

Keir Starmer: the rise of Default Man

How Labour became the default option

The sharpest criticism of Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, comes from a Turner-prize winning artist and self-described “bloke in a dress”. In the “Descent of Man”, Grayson Perry, a transvestite sculptor, examined the tribe of straight, white, middle-class men who tend to end up in charge of things. They appear at the top of business, the media and in politics, but unthinkingly rather than by choice. Mr Perry dubbed this character “Default Man”. Mr Perry may not have had the Labour leader in mind when he wrote the book in 2016. But Sir Keir certainly fits the bill.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The rise of Default Man”

How not to run a country

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