Russia’s Lavrov meets Kim Jong Un in North Korea with Ukraine war at fore

North Korean officials have “reaffirmed their support for all objectives” in the Russia-Ukraine war, says Russian FM. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting in Wonsan, North Korea, on July 12, 2025 [Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/via AP] Published On 12 Jul 202512 Jul 2025 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea, during which Pyongyang reaffirmed its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine in which thousands of its soldiers have been killed. Lavrov “was received” by Kim, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Telegram on Saturday, posting a video of the two men shaking hands and embracing in Wonsan. Russian and North Korean state media had announced the visit earlier, saying Lavrov would stay until Sunday.

It is the latest in a series of high-profile trips by top Moscow officials to North Korea as the countries deepen military and political ties with a focus on Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Pyongyang has become one of Moscow’s main allies during its more than three-year-long war in Ukraine, sending thousands of troops and conventional weapons to help the Kremlin remove Ukrainian forces from Kursk in Russia. More than 6,000 North Korean soldiers have died in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to British Defence Intelligence. North Korea has also agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders to help reconstruction efforts there. The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August. The United States and South Korea have expressed concern that, in return, Kim may seek Russian technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by his nuclear-armed military. Earlier on Saturday, Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui in Wonsan, a city on the country’s east coast, where a huge resort was opened earlier this month. “We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis … Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces,” Russian news agency TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.
He also thanked the “heroic” North Korean soldiers, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. In April, the two countries officially confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to Russia for the first time, saying these troops had helped Russia to recapture the Kursk region – a claim contested by Ukraine. Since then, Kim has been shown in state media paying tribute in front of flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers. Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has visited Pyongyang multiple times this year. The two heavily sanctioned nations signed a sweeping military deal last November, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea. Pyongyang has reportedly been directly arming Moscow to support its war in Ukraine. In the meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Friday that US weapons shipments to his country had resumed, following the Pentagon’s decision to briefly halt the delivery of certain weapons to Kyiv over fears that US stockpiles were dwindling. The US will deliver military supplies and send its envoy Keith Kellogg to Kyiv early next week, said Zelenskyy. Source: News Agencies

Read More

Trade trumps geopolitics as Australia PM visits China

Australia's leader Anthony Albanese will visit China and meet with President Xi Jinping this weekend as he seeks to strengthen ties with Canberra's largest trading partner. Regional security and trade will take centre stage during the prime minister's six-day trip spanning three cities - Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. "My government will continue to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest," Albanese said in a statement. The trip marks Albanese's second official visit to China - but the first since his re-election in May. It comes as countries around the world navigate US president Donald Trump's "America First" policies including tariffs. China accounts for nearly a third of Australia's total trade and "will remain so for the foreseeable future", Albanese said. "The relationship in China means jobs in Australia. It's as simple as that," he told reporters on Friday. Albanese, whose Labor Party government was re-elected with an increased majority in May, had pledged among other things to create more jobs and bring back manufacturing in Australia. Analysts say this trip signals a stabilisation of ties between Australia and China, even as Beijing has been trying to extend its military reach across the Pacific to some protest by Australia. Last month, Australia's defence minister Richard Marles called on China to explain why it needs to have "such an extraordinary military build-up". A rare Chinese military drill in the Tasman sea in February was also called "unusual" by Marles. "Both sides recognise their differences... [and] agree those differences should not define the relationship," says James Laurenceson, director of Australia-China Relations Institute. The two countries are not seeking geopolitical alignment, he said. "They need to keep the politics stable and constructive so that other parts of the relationship, like businesses, cultural organisations, universities and so on can forge ahead with engagement in their own areas." Mr Laurenceson notes, however, that Washington "will not be pleased" with Albanese's visit. But the prime minister has domestic support for this, he says. "Washington is heading in a direction so plainly contrary to Australia's interests that any [leader] seen as kowtowing to the White House would face pushback at home," he says. Beijing will continue to criticise Australia's involvement in the Aukus submarine deal with its longstanding allies, the UK and the US, observers tell the BBC, while Canberra will reiterate its commitment to the pact - even as Trump's administration has recently put the agreement under review. But disagreements over issues like Aukus will not thwart Australia's and China's relationship significantly, the observers say.

Read More

Trump says EU and Mexico face 30% tariff from August

President Donald Trump has announced that the European Union and Mexico will face a 30% tariff on imports to the US from 1 August. He warned he would impose even higher import taxes if either of the US trading partners decided to retaliate. The 27-member EU - America's biggest trading partner - said earlier this week it hoped to agree a deal with Washington before 1 August. Trump has this week also said the US will impose new tariffs on goods from Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, also starting from 1 August. Similar letters were sent this week to a number of smaller US trade partners. In the letter sent on Friday to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Trump wrote: "We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with the European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term-large, and persistent, trade deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-tariff, policies and trade barriers." "Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal," the letter added. Canada's Carney talked tough on Trump - now some say he's backing down The EU has been a frequent target of Trump's criticism. On 2 April, he proposed a 20% tariff for goods from the bloc, as well as dozens of other trade partners. He then threatened to raise the EU import taxes to 50% as trade talks stalled. Washington and Brussels had hoped to reach an agreement before a deadline of 9 July, but there have been no announcements on progress. In 2024, the US trade deficit with the bloc was $235.6bn (€202bn; £174bn), according to the office of the US trade representative. Von der Leyen said the EU remained ready "to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1". "Few economies in the world match the European Union's level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices," her statement added. "We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required." France's President Emmanuel Macron said he was in "very strong disapproval" of Trump's announcement. If no agreement is reached, the French leader suggested the EU plan "speeding up the preparation of credible countermeasures". Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement she trusted "a fair agreement" could be reached, adding: "It would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic." Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on social media that the EU "must remain united and resolute" in its aim to reach a "mutually beneficial" deal with the US. Germany's Association of the Automotive Industry warned about the prospect of rising costs for German carmakers and suppliers, and said it was "regrettable that there is a threat of a further escalation of the trade conflict". In his letter to Mexico's leader, Trump said the country had not done enough to stop North America becoming a "Narco-Trafficking Playground". "Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough," Trump added. In his letters to the EU and Mexico, Trump warned that if either trade partner retaliated with import duties of their own against the US, he would hit back by raising tariffs by a similar percentage over and above the 30%. Mexico responded to Trump's threat on Saturday, calling it an "unfair deal". Trump's letter did not say if Mexico goods traded within the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement would be exempt from the proposed 1 August tariff hikes, as the White House said would be the case with Canada. Earlier this week, the White House sent a letter to Canada threatening a 35% tariff. As of Saturday, the Trump administration has now proposed tariff conditions on 24 countries and the EU. On 12 April, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro set a goal to secure "90 deals in 90 days". So far, the president has announced the outlines of two such pacts with the United Kingdom and Vietnam amid ongoing negotiations.

Read More

Elon Musk just made his starkest political threat since the election

Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 30 After declaring he was stepping away from the political spotlight, Elon Musk got right back in it. As the Senate debated President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” on Monday before a final vote, Musk issued a stark warning via his social media platform X. “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote. A few hours later he went further, declaring on X that if the “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day.” “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,” he wrote. In a late-night post on social media, Trump hit back against Musk and threatened to direct the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) against the tech billionaire. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social. For weeks, Musk has railed against Trump’s policy bill, leading to a very public and ugly fight with Trump earlier this month. In a flurry of X posts several weeks ago, Musk had proposed starting a new political party. That proposal resurfaced on Monday, when Musk said: “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.” Musk’s resolution to support candidates who plan to launch primary campaigns against members of Congress is one of Musk’s most concrete political threats since leaving his post as a White House adviser. Musk spent more than $275 million to support Trump and other Republican candidates in the 2024 election. In late May he said in an interview he was planning to cut back on political spending, saying he has “done enough.” trumpmuskfeud.jpg Related article How the feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump exploded over 72 hours According to Federal Election Commission filings, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, last gave money in March to support two Republican candidates running in special elections in Florida – Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis. Musk has long supported closed borders, deportations and stopping illegal immigration, in line with the Trump administration. But the domestic policy bill has appeared to trigger a rift between the Tesla CEO and the White House. Musk has argued that the Republican policy bill will increase the debt, calling it “debt slavery.” The Senate bill would add nearly $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate released Sunday. The Senate legislation costs more than the House-approved bill, which would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. The Senate package contains deeper tax cuts, fewer spending cuts and provisions that would raise revenue. The White House has argued the bill “slashes deficits” and the debt, while “unleashing economic growth.” The Trump administration and certain Senate Republicans are opting not to include the cost of extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts in their calculations of the bill’s impact on the federal deficit.

Though Musk has said the loss of electric vehicle (EV) and solar energy subsidies and credits in the bill are not why he opposes the legislation, he has complained the bill “gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.” In his post on Truth Social, Trump defended his position against EV mandates, writing: “Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one.” CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed reporting.

Read More

One Way to Win Trump Over: Nominate Him for the Nobel Prize

African leaders tell the president during a meeting at the White House that he should win the prestigious award

WASHINGTON—President Trump often bristles at questions from the media. But he perked up when a reporter asked a group of African leaders if he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Read More

Trump promised 200 deals by now. He’s gotten 3, and 1 more is getting very close

At the conclusion of his first 100 days in office in late April, President Donald Trump made a stunning statement about his progress on tariff negotiations: He had completed trade deals with 200 countries. More than two months later, Trump has announced just three of those agreements – with China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

So what happened? Wednesday marks the day that Trump had set three months ago as a deadline for all countries to reach a deal or face higher “reciprocal” tariffs. Trump has since publicly acknowledged that pausing those “Liberation Day” tariffs until July 9 left insufficient time to negotiate with practically every country around the world. Trump had initially expected to complete more trade deals by Wednesday’s deadline, but in recent weeks he’s been convinced that landing those deals can’t happen more swiftly, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. That’s why his public rhetoric has shifted in recent weeks to saying he would send out letters that set higher tariffs on America’s trading partners, effectively getting results on the board while talks continue. So Trump agreed to push the deadline back to August 1 to give countries that are close to a deal a little more time for talks – particularly the European Union, which is on the verge of announcing a trade deal with the United States. Progress in EU negotiations EU and US trade negotiators are nearing a framework agreement that would set in place 10% tariffs and lay out the parameters for extensive trade discussions going forward, according to three officials familiar with the matter. The progress in negotiations with the EU, in particular, was a key consideration in extending the deadline beyond July 9. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed to the EU talks, as well as the view that several other key negotiations were in their final stages, as he advocated for more time, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump still needs to sign off on any final agreement and talks between the two sides are ongoing, but the officials said the agreement would be announced before the end of the week. Olof Gill, trade spokesperson for the European Commission, confirmed in a press briefing Wednesday that EU trade negotiators are in active discussions with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and that a deal is expected to be announced in the coming days. Shipping containers at the Bayport Container Terminal at the port of Houston in Seabrook, Texas, US, on Thursday, May 22, 2025. US businesses are under mounting pressure to import goods while President Donald Trump's higher tariffs are on pause, and they're simultaneously navigating increasingly complex filing rules when their cargo crosses the border. Related article Trump has delayed his monster tariffs. Here’s why you should care The progress marks a dramatic turn in Trump’s long-standing, long-public disdain for the EU, a view that served as the backdrop to months of frustrating and intractable trade discussions this year. But Trump’s tone – and behind the scenes, the tenor and tempo of the negotiations – shifted dramatically in the weeks since he threatened 50% tariffs on the EU in a morning social media post in late May. That unexpected and dramatic threat sparked an immediate response from the EU and set the stage for an urgent effort to reach some form of an agreement before Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs snapped into place. EU officials have been in the midst of briefing member countries about the framework and proposed negotiating process, one of the EU officials said, adding that despite the often-divergent equities of the bloc’s nations, the deal has been presented as the best and likely only way to avoid a dramatic escalation in tariffs on August 1. Trump’s negotiators have maintained a hardline on the EU’s push for exemptions to sectoral tariffs already in place or forthcoming, the officials said. For instance, a push to reduce Trump’s 25% tariff on autos is a central late-stage focus of the discussions, as has an effort to cut the 50% levies on steel. US negotiators have indicated some willingness to consider key EU industries and products for possible rate reductions, including airplanes, alcoholic beverages and some agricultural products. But it would require Trump’s final sign-off, the officials said. EU officials have also pledged to significantly increase purchases of US energy and defense sector goods. If a deal can’t be reached, the EU has vowed to introduce countermeasures targeting billions of dollars’ worth of US exports to the bloc. Those retaliatory steps have been due to come into force on July 14. It is not yet clear if the EU will push back that date to account for Trump’s extension of his “reciprocal” tariffs deadline to August 1. “If no agreement is reached by the stated deadline, the EU is prepared to activate targeted and proportionate countermeasures in defense of its legitimate interest,” Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s minister of European affairs, reminded the European Parliament Wednesday, noting that there are limits to the bloc’s patience. Other deals are still in the works Trump has been frustrated by a lack of progress on trade. During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, he said his tariff threats have successfully brought trading partners to the table – but the deals other countries have offered the United States are unacceptable. “They say … ‘We will give you total access, and you don’t have to pay any tariffs, but please don’t charge us tariffs,’ and we don’t like that deal,” Trump said. “We’re not hard-line, but it’s about time the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off – ripping us off – and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were.” Trump this week has sent out several letters setting new tariffs, including 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea. Other letters are expected to be publicized Wednesday. Other deals have been harder to come by. President Donald Trump leads a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Related article Trump promises more tariff letters and warns BRICS of what’s coming India has long been viewed as the most likely major partner to sign onto a framework with the US. But Indian trade negotiators have hardened their positions in recent days, according to US officials. India is also a member of the BRICS group, so it’s unclear what Trump’s 10% tariff threat on BRICS countries Sunday means for trade negotiations. South Korea had also been viewed for weeks as likely to reach an agreement, though Trump’s auto tariffs remain a key sticking point in those talks, and Trump’s letter on Monday may have thrown a wrench in those gears. Japan steadily moved further away from an outcome in recent weeks, and Trump cast significant doubt on talks that once seemed on a path to a certain agreement. Japanese trade negotiators, who just weeks ago were scrambling to lay the groundwork for an announcement by last month’s Group of Seven summit, have delivered far more pessimistic messages in their public statements in recent days. Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that despite “earnest and sincere discussions,” Japan has been unable to reach a deal, according to remarks translated by CNN. “We deeply regret that the US government has imposed additional tariffs and announced plans to raise tariff rates,” Ishiba said. Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand have all delivered substantial offers to their US counterparts in the last two weeks in an effort to move to the front of the line for an agreement and are likely candidates for any near-term deal in the next few days, US officials said. Brazil has ramped up its efforts to secure an agreement, including bilateral talks at the end of last week designed to expand on an earlier offer to sharply reduce tariffs on certain US products, American administration officials said. The most prevalent point of contention among foreign trade teams has been a lack of clarity on what their US counterparts envision for any final agreement. But the biggest roadblock in the more expansive negotiations has been the existence – or promised imposition – of Trump’s sectoral tariffs on autos, steel and pharmaceuticals, US officials said. CNN’s Alayna Treene, James Frater and Anna Cooban contributed to this report.

Read More

‘We promised change but people aren’t feeling it yet’: Labour rues poor first year

 

MPs, aides and other party figures reflect on what went wrong and how they could still turn things around

Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot

Sat 5 Jul 2025 06.00 BST

In a stiflingly hot room at a health centre in East London, as he announced the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS on Thursday, Keir Starmer was confronted with a brutal assessment of his first year in power.

“You’ve U-turned on your reforms, your MPs don’t trust you, and markets worry that you’ve lost resolve on fiscal discipline. It’s the epitome, isn’t it, of sticking-plaster politics and chaos that you promised voters you would end?” a television journalist asked.

Initially, Starmer avoided answering the question, but he eventually addressed the fall-out from his government’s chaotic handling of its welfare bill. “I’m not going to pretend the last few days have been easy: they’ve been tough,” he admitted.

“I’m the sort of person that then wants to reflect on that, to ask myself what do we need to do to ensure we don’t get into a situation like that again, and we will go through that process. But I also know … that we will come through it stronger.”

The jubilant crowds of flag-waving supporters that greeted the prime minister as he arrived in Downing Street on 5 July 2024, daring to hope for a brighter future after 14 long years under the Conservative party, felt like a very long time ago.

Senior members of Starmer’s inner circle now quite openly admit that their first year in power has not gone as expected. “I always knew it would be hard, but I think I was probably quite naive about just how hard it would be,” one said.

“We had a difficult fiscal inheritance and there was this sense in the country that everything was broken. We promised change but people aren’t feeling it yet. And they’re not in any mood to give us the benefit of the doubt,” a cabinet minister added.

Starmer and his wife, Victoria, surrounded by well-wishers as he arrived in Downing Street on 5 July 2024. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Despite all the political misjudgements such as early gloominess over the economy when the country needed to feel hope, unforced errors over issues such as the winter fuel cuts and freebies and a party base unsettled over cuts to international aid and the welfare system, it is too simplistic to suggest that it has all been bad.

Decisions to raise the national minimum wage, improve workers’ rights, build more affordable housing and cut NHS waiting lists have all been popular. Even more starkly “Labour” policies such as nationalising the railways, introducing VAT on private schools fees and threatening water firm bosses over sewage have been well received.

But the government, slumping behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the polls and with Starmer’s own personal approval ratings tanking, hasn’t got the credit. Labour strategists keep themselves awake at night trying to work out where it went wrong, and what they can do about it.

So for all the reflection on the year gone by, the focus has now inevitably turned to what comes next. “We’re only 12 months in: if we can learn not just from what we’ve got right but also from what has not, then we still have time to get it right,” one No 10 source said.

Starmer talks of a decade of national renewal, his assumption being that Labour will win a second term, and that he’ll still be at the helm of the party. But not everybody shares that view. Even though the odds are still – despite everything – of Labour being the largest party.

Some ministers believe they should focus on the first five years instead, as a way of injecting some urgency. Backbench MPs, many with small majorities and fearful of what the next election could bring, are pushing to make the most of what time they have.

They may recoil when asked about a reset, but No 10 political strategists do acknowledge there will be a “next phase” that allows Starmer to move on from his difficult first year and get the government on to a steadier footing.

Starmer promised change in his first term in government, which many feel has not been delivered so far. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

They believe the prime minister needs a big unifying message that allows him to make ideological arguments – akin to the way Tony Blair used “modernise”.

The theme of the strategy will be “fairness” – a word that peppered Starmer’s speech on the NHS on Thursday, and which they hope they can use in a provocative way and use to pick political battles. “It’s an invitation to make proper arguments,” an aide said.

In his autumn conference speech and the run-up to the crucial political test of next May’s local elections, Starmer will be able to argue there has been an imbalance in the economy or in previous political priorities that he will now set about to change.

At the heart of it, Labour wants to speak to a pervasive feeling in the country that no matter how hard you work, nothing improves, and life gets tougher and tougher.

Fairness, they argue, provides a platform to argue that big decisions – choices such as VAT on private schools or workers’ rights reforms – were the right things to do. But also small ones such as investments in crumbling local heritage, which has become such a symbol of decline.

It was an argument, strategists believe, that could have been made much better, to make the case for cuts to winter fuel and the dysfunctional state of the welfare system.

Crucially, aides hope the message will resonate right across the Labour coalition, bringing together progressives to the left of the government and the more socially conservative voters who were the focus of the last election.

“Those people are in many ways often similar in circumstances but very different in values,” one senior strategist said. “We should be a government for all those people.”

But there are some senior Labour figures, including some in cabinet and party grandees, who favour a much more explicit progressivism, to shore up Labour’s own voters and take on the right when the Reform hordes are at the gates.

They believe that this is much closer to Starmer’s own politics and would allow him to speak and act more like himself, addressing a view held inside and outside Westminster that he often comes across as inauthentic.

“He’s been dressed up in all sorts of different incarnations, as an insurgent disruptor or the hammer of the civil service, which I don’t think he’s felt comfortable with,” said one ally. “I think the reason why he went out of his way to express regret over the immigration speech where he talked about an island of strangers was because it just wasn’t him.”

On the progressive wing of the party, where Labour is losing more votes, there is frustration about what many perceive to be leaning to the right in response to Reform UK.

“It’s the wrong approach. We should acknowledge that people really care about small boats, about housing, about the cost of living, but have our own answers to those problems, not try to ape Reform,” said one senior MP. “Authenticity is a big problem for Keir. It’s much better that he goes out and makes a Labour case for what we want to do for the country.”

Some in No 10 believe that it would be disastrous to pivot back to the Labour base, comparing it to Ed Miliband’s “35%” strategy that aimed to unite progressives but which ultimately cost Labour the 2015 election.

While Starmer is generally praised for his role on the international stage, and has strong relationships with his fellow world leaders – including, perhaps counterintuitively, Donald Trump – the same is not true of the domestic sphere.

There is a strong desire within No 10 for Starmer to reconnect with voters at home, to spend more time out in the country with ordinary people, on the campaign trail, with businesses, with industry, in hospitals – and with his own MPs.

“We have got to get him off a fucking plane,” one senior aide said. “It becomes so easy to not think too much about what is going on at home. It has been at the root of a lot of problems.”

Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, is believed by a senior Labour figure to have been left to political decision-making. Photograph: Shutterstock

The party finds itself at a crossroads. Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s fabled chief of staff, told staff as they entered government that they could govern as insurgents and that power would make them more radical. But the pace of change has been frustratingly slow and some aides believe there must be a serious strategic turn to speed it up.

Many government figures compare this moment to the turbulent aftermath of the Hartlepool byelection. Starmer tells friends that he’s used to people underestimating him, that it happened back then, too, yet he proved his detractors wrong by sticking to his plan.

But others are less generous. “Nobody knows what he’s thinking,” said one senior Labour figure. “He’s delegated political decision-making to Morgan. He needs to get more of a grip.”

But while advisers, including McSweeney, often get the blame for the government’s woes, ultimately the buck stops with the prime minister. Veterans of Labour’s last time in office believe that Starmer needs to articulate a more clearly defined purpose. “Until and unless people know what the point of this government is … then nothing else will follow,” said one.

“What does Keir actually want? What does he stand for? For all the contradictions with Tony and Gordon, you knew they were driven by ideas. It seized them. What does Keir stand for? Whatever it is, we don’t know,” said a senior Labour figure.

“It’s all been show not tell. He thinks that if the government delivers gradual material change that will be enough. But it’s not. It wasn’t for Joe Biden. It won’t be for Keir Starmer either,” said one minister.

Senior party figures worry that Starmer’s reputation for being competent, even if that doesn’t include political flair, has taken a battering over the past year, and that he needs to turn that round.

“Everybody thought he was going to be a more professional, competent version of the succession of failed Tories that we had before. But instead many people have got the sense that he’s a further instalment of them,” one said.

Starmer’s allies vehemently reject the suggestion that he can’t turn things around. “A big drum roll and clash of cymbals and fireworks wouldn’t work. Keir can win a second term, not by dancing to Nigel Farage’s tune, but by doing what Labour governments do in his pragmatic, hard-headed way, trying to make this country better. That seems to me a more authentic place for him, a better place for the government.”

But not everybody is as optimistic. “I just don’t know whether he’ll pull it off,” one senior figure said. “Keir is a diligent and thorough person who every day jumps out of bed and thinks what he can do for the country. He goes to bed every night dissatisfied that he’s not done enough. But somehow in between those two moments something doesn’t quite connect.”

Read More