Open Letter to Kier Starmer
Ideas for transforming this Labour Government's communications
OPEN LETTER TO
Right Honorable Sir Kier Starmer M.P.
Prime Minister
House of Commons London SW1
9th September 2025
Ideas for transforming this Labour Government's communications
Dear Prime Minister
We want you to succeed. We NEED you to succeed, both as Labour prime minister, and as a rebuke to 14 years of Tory incompetence and sleaze. For that to happen, we need a few policies and A FEW RISKS that show real change, while respecting principles that show moral standing and rectitude. Your firm response to the July 2024 riots was admirable, but it is forgotten. We need to be inspired by you. Your caution is destroying your reputation as a leader.
Jeremy Corbyn was a terrible leader, but he produced a manifesto that got us excited. The proof: he won a huge number of votes. But Jeremy could not lead a women’s tea party. You are a distinguished former Director of Public Prosecutions and a great leader, but with no exciting policies. Here are some political slogans with the actions to back them up.
SOCIAL JUSTICE: FIX THE POSTAL SCANDAL and tell us “We got it done!”
Tory failure to solve the Post Office scandal, remains a scandal. Innocent postmasters went to jail; others died or took their own lives. Civil Service procrastination is ridiculous. Just pay all the postmasters and put some English perjurers and Japanese computer liars in jail. Pay out the money and get it done ! WITH ONE STROKE OF THE PEN you can cancel the lawyer contacts, save money on lawyer fees and order civil servants to write the cheques: end the wrangling, accept all the claims. and accept the applause that will follow ! Everyone supports the victims of this corruption, and if you fix it everyone will support you.
DENOUNCE FARAGE AND BREXIT: tell us how much Farage’s Brexit Bluster has cost us!
Stop allowing Farage to get away with ridiculous promises. His only success was a FAILURE FOR BRITAIN: lost exports and a real loss of wealth. We have economic problems and job losses 1) Because of the Tories; 2) because of the 2008 banking crisis, and the bail-out of corrupt bankers who were never called to account; 3) because of BREXIT. You and the Chancellor need to say it loud and clear: GDP is down because Nigel Farage told us lies. Farage has cost us billions. Before the November budget, you should spell out real cost-and-loss numbers in the same dramatic way that Farage and Johnson and Gove sold us phony EU figures in 2016. Make it clear, and make the numbers hurt Farage.
Brexit was not the fault of the unlucky British people: it was the fault of Nigel Farage MEP (feeding fat in Brussels).
IMMIGRATION IS NOT ALL BAD
If ‘small boats’ dominate the headlines, it is partly because you are not boldly stating the importance of immigrants for nursing, for elderly care, for house building and road maintenance, for agriculture and hospitality, for scientific research and higher education, and for the long-term strength of the British economy. Show that the British economy cannot grow without immigrants. We are an ageing society, and the elderly need care. Emphasise the contribution of immigrants to the National Income. Change the debate: push Farage onto the defensive by accusing him of hiding the truth, and sabotaging the National Health Service for his own political advantage.
ECONOMIC GROWTH NEEDS ECONOMIC JUSTICE
If you commit to growth, you need also to promise a redistribution of wealth: to low tax-payers, to the poor, to children, to Old Age Pensioners. Capitalism = Tory Fat Cats taking profits for themselves, and people are angry. Nothing illustrates this more that corruption by the Water Companies. Denounce them ! Tory growth means more water pollution, greedy profits, greater unhappiness and social unrest. Starmer Growth means a Fairer Society. Right now, Starmer’s policies seem too much like Theresa May and “Lettuce” Liz Truss. vWe need a strong commitment from your Labour Government to change Britain, and to change wealth redistribution in line with Labour values.
TAX THE PEOPLE WHO PAY NO TAX
The Zucman Tax (designed by Californian French economist Gabriel Zucman) would be exciting, and popular with voters. It appeals to everybody but the ultra-rich. The super-rich and the multinational corporations pay little or no tax (partly through ‘clever’ accounting, but also thanks to British tolerance of tax havens). You will be popular and successful if you prove you are not a prisoner of the Westminster-Washington Plutocratic Bubble. Close or raid the tax havens. Dare to tax the Emirs and Oligarchs who buy up properties in London and the Cotswolds, who buy football clubs and super yachts. Tell us all how much money the Zucman Tax will bring to Britain, and you will win also respect and popularity.
FORCE OLIGARCHS TO RESPECT OUR LAWS and redefine ‘internet platforms’ as ‘news media’
Taxpayers should include the GAFAM oligarchs of Silicon Valley: show us that Starmer stands up for Britain against rich American bullies. Right now, you appear as a Trump appeaser, willing to give tax holidays to oligarchs who promote pedophilia and adolescent paranoia. We should deny the easy category of “platform” and define them as ”news media” – for that is exactly what they have become. What makes “influencers” any different from OpEd journalists in our traditional media? Do not allow THEM to define who they are: make the GAFAM pedophiles subject to existing UK laws.
LAUNCH A STUDY OF THE UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME
Not only is this an exciting idea: it makes social sense, removing “welfare” and rewarding carers, mothers and the unpaid. Income Taxes will claw back money from those who do not need the UBI, while the poor and the neglected will feel rewarded. What could be more in line with Labour values than this?
DENOUNCE THE GAZA GENOCIDE AND THE SUDAN GENOCIDE
Show us that you have the morality and the backbone to take a stand against slaughter. Reach for the moral high ground. Palestinian statehood has become irrelevant. Genocide and Gaza concentration camps are not irrelevant, but repulsive.
RESTORE THE OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY
If you wish to increase defence spending, it makes no sense to do so at the expense of the poorest people in the world ….. the very people (by the way) who will become asylum seekers if we do not help them make a living at home. Cutting overseas aid is also immoral. Instead, abandon Trident. This is an expensive and symbolic nuclear weapon you will never use – and it makes us totally dependent on USA. Are you intending to reproduce Hiroshima ? Surely not. Would you use a bomb to imitate Churchill’s wanton destruction of Dresden, or Israel’s genocidal destruction of Gaza ? No, you would not. So why keep this hugely expensive (and ultimately unusable) weapon that emphasizes our dependence on the USA ?
Take a few risks, Prime Minister. Show us that you are a real leader making a real difference. Use some of these bold ideas to shake off the ridiculous chatter and your bad luck with issues like Angela Rainer, Peter Mandelson, free business suits and tickets to Wimbledon (or whatever these trivia involve). Give us some big, bold moves that show leadership and a real political change from the whining Tories. You have only three years left ! Just do it !
Best wishes to you, Prime Minister, and GOOD LUCK !
Sincerely yours
Robin Edward Poulton
Dr Robin Edward Poulton ChONM, ChROSC, UNSM, MBIM, MA (Hons St A), MSc (Oxon), PhD (Paris)