I hated being in Starmer’s government and he lacked the gusto to get anything done, ex-minister says
Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said she hated serving in Keir Starmer’s government and believed he lacked the drive to deliver policy with sufficient urgency. Her comments highlight Labour tensions over progress on violence against women and girls, an area where she says government commitment has fallen short of manifesto ambitions.
Phillips, who resigned in May in an unsuccessful effort to remove Starmer, said she was unhappy for most of her time in the role and would not return as a junior minister. She argued that fully implementing the government’s violence-against-women-and-girls strategy would cut such violence by about 25%, well below Labour’s 2024 pledge to halve it, and criticised departments she felt did not treat the issue seriously enough.
In short
- Phillips criticised Starmer’s leadership and her ministerial experience.
- She says action on violence against women remains insufficient.
- She will not return to a similar junior ministerial role.
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The case for
Phillips served directly in the government and possesses insider knowledge of its operations and priorities. Her concern that the government is moving too slowly on violence against women and girls—a significant manifesto commitment—reflects substantive policy criticism rooted in experience rather than mere partisan grievance. If the government's realistic implementation falls substantially short of its election pledges on an important social issue, this represents a legitimate failure in governance and leadership follow-through that warrants serious consideration.
The case against
A minister who attempted to remove the Prime Minister and subsequently left office has substantial incentive to portray the government unfavourably, and her perspective cannot be assumed reliable regardless of her insider position. Her claims about policy feasibility and what leadership could achieve involve complex institutional and empirical judgements difficult to verify, and governing necessarily requires setting priorities rather than advancing all commitments equally. Her broad characterisation of the Prime Minister as lacking gusto remains subjective and potentially reflects personal frustration rather than fair assessment of difficult governance constraints.
Explained simply
Jess Phillips is a Labour MP who served as a minister responsible for safeguarding, including work related to violence against women and girls. Keir Starmer became prime minister after Labour won the 2024 general election.
Labour’s election manifesto pledged to halve violence against women and girls. The government’s strategy sets out measures intended to tackle that violence; Phillips has said carrying them out in full would reduce it by about a quarter. The gap between the pledge and that estimate has become a point of disagreement within the party.
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