Lord Hermer Urges Labour MPs To "Not Throw Away" Government Achievements
3 min read
Attorney General Lord Hermer has urged Labour MPs to focus on the government's achievements amid speculation about the party leadership.
Speaking at a meeting of the Tribune group of soft left Labour MPs on Tuesday evening, Hermer said there was a risk that the government's "hard work" gets overshadowed, PoliticsHome understands.
The Attorney General, a close ally of Starmer, argued that the Prime Minister was the best person to defeat Nigel Farage and Reform UK at the next general election, describing him as "the right leader to unite the country".
Hermer, a former human rights barrister, was appointed Attorney General shortly after Labour’s return to power.
He also used his meeting with the Tribune caucus to make the case for staying in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and helping reform the treaty from within to help tackle illegal migration. The Attorney General also sought to highlight the government's progress in tackling the cost of living, employment and renters' rights.
A Labour MP attending the meeting said Hermer managed to articulate a "better narrative" about what the government is doing than what the Labour administration had produced.
Another person at the meeting told PoliticsHome: "He was genuinely well received by the room, and a couple of people said his framing of the government around respect for working people and long-lasting change was some of the best they'd heard. We need more people as enthusiastic communicating the government's significant achievements as the Attorney General."
This is the first time Hermer has addressed a group of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) since joining the cabinet, suggesting that he could become a more visible defender of the Starmer project in the months ahead.
Sources close to the Attorney General said he plans to address the wider PLP and the Red Wall caucus later this year.
His speech to the group comes amid ongoing speculation over how long Starmer has left in Downing Street.
Labour continues to trail Farage's Reform in the opinion polls, with some recent polls putting the party third behind the Conservatives. Labour is also braced for bruising elections in Scotland, Wales and parts of England in May.
In an interview with the BBC at the start of the year, the PM insisted he would still be in No 10 in a year's time, telling Laura Kuenssberg: "I will be sitting in this seat by 2027".
He added: "Under the last government, we saw constant chopping and changing of leadership, of teams, it caused utter chaos, utter chaos, and it's amongst the reasons that the Tories were booted out so effectively at the last election...
"Nobody wants to go back to that. It's not in our national interest."
Addressing his cabinet last week, Starmer urged his most senior ministers to ignore the polls and keep their "nerve".
Led by former transport secretary Louise Haigh and Vicky Foxcroft, the Tribune group is seen as a significant force on the soft left of the PLP. It was involved in the backbench rebellion that forced the government to abandon welfare reforms last year.
The caucus plans to invite more ministers to speak at their meetings as it looks to increase its influence in the party.
Beccy Cooper, Labour MP for Worthing West and group member, told PoliticsHome: "The plan is definitely to get other ministers, to get other politicians and external speakers."
Additional reporting by Zoë Crowther
Correction: This piece has been updated to reflect that Hermer did not use the words "internal game playing" in his meeting with Labour MPs after briefings beforehand said he would.
