And the successes he failed to communicate.
以及他未能充分传达的成就。
On the gloriously sunny morning of July 5 2024, Keir Starmer walked into Downing Steet as prime minister for the first time, having won a stonking 174-strong majority in the general election the day before. On a similarly warm morning a little less than two years later, he has been forced to stand outside Number 10 and announce his resignation. How did it come to this?
2024年7月5日阳光明媚的早晨，基尔·斯塔默首次作为首相走进了唐宁街，此前他在前一天的大选中赢得了高达174票的压倒性多数。在距离这一天不到两年的一个同样温暖的早晨，他被迫站在10号府外宣布辞职。这又是怎么回事？
The resignation speech, marked with pathos and dignity, was particularly surprising because, as the prime minister made clear, he had built up a substantial record, doing the kind of things Labour leaders are meant to do.
这场充满深情和尊严的辞职演讲尤其令人意外，因为正如这位首相所强调的，他建立了一个可观的记录，做着工党领导人理应做的事情。
The minimum wage has increased, employment rights for workers have been enhanced, waiting lists in the NHS have come down, half a million children are being lifted out of poverty, and the economy has grown in difficult times (albeit at sluggish rate) . On the controversial issue of immigration, the numbers have come down.
最低工资提高了，工人的就业权利得到了增强，国民医疗服务体系（NHS）的等候名单下降了，五十万名儿童摆脱了贫困，经济在困难时期实现了增长（尽管速度缓慢）。在备受争议的移民问题上，数字也有所下降。
For his supporters, Starmer is an unshowy but decent man approaching his job with proper seriousness and with a feeling for the national interest. Yet on the doorstep, MPs found that the response to Starmer was often one of visceral hatred. His polling numbers plummeted, amid complaints that his promise to deliver “change” in 2024 had not materialised.
在他支持者看来，斯塔默是一个低调但正直的人，对待工作非常认真，并具有对国家利益的关注。然而，在街头巷尾，议员们发现人们对他的反应往往是出于本能的仇恨。随着关于他承诺在2024年带来“改变”尚未实现等抱怨声浪，他的民调数据暴跌。
Prime ministers in the past have often endured periods of unpopularity. In 1980-81, Margaret Thatcher was deeply unpopular and yet went on to win two further general elections. Yet this moment feels different – which explains why Starmer felt he had to go.
过去的主席们经常经历不受欢迎的时期。1980-81年，玛格丽特·撒切尔深感不受欢迎，但她仍然赢得了两次后续的大选。然而，此刻的感觉不同——这也解释了为什么斯塔默觉得他必须离开。
Despite its huge majority, the government was never that popular. It won because of the huge unpopularity of the Conservatives in office, especially after the debacles of the Boris Johnson and Liz Truss premierships. Starmer’s victory came off the back of a remarkably slim vote share of 33.7% in an election with a near-historically low turnout.
尽管政府拥有巨大的多数席位，但它从未如此受欢迎。它是因为保守党在执政期间的巨大不受欢迎度而获胜，尤其是在鲍里斯·约翰逊和伊丽莎白·特拉斯两任首相的闹剧之后。斯塔默的胜利得益于一次选举中惊人的33.7%的投票份额，而这次选举的投票率接近历史低点。
‘No such thing as Starmerism’
“不存在‘斯塔默主义’”
The new government appeared rudderless because it never established a compelling vision for the country. The prime minister is on record as saying: “There is no such thing as Starmerism and there never will be!”
新政府显得缺乏方向，因为它从未为国家建立起一个引人注目的愿景。首相曾公开表示：“根本不存在‘斯塔默主义’，未来也不会存在！”
Starmer’s approach was serious but technocratic, showing no interest in ideas or principles. This left it looking out of touch when confronted by populist movements of the right (Nigel Farage’s Reform UK) and the left (Zack Polanski’s Greens) , who established a strong emotional connection with voters. Starmer has offered a centrist government at a time when the energy in politics is flowing away from the centre.
斯塔默的做法是严肃的但技术官僚式的，没有表现出对思想或原则的兴趣。这使得他在面对右翼民粹运动（奈杰尔·法拉奇的改革英国）和左翼（扎克·波兰斯基的绿党）时显得脱节，而这两方则与选民建立了强大的情感联系。在政治能量正从中心流离汇散之际，斯塔默提出了一个中间派政府。
The government ran into trouble right from the start. It allowed itself to be defined by the decision to cut winter fuel payments for all but the poorest pensioners. This showed a complete lack of awareness of the politics of this move, which landed badly with voters.
该政府一开始就遇到了麻烦。它允许自己被“削减除最贫困养老金领取者以外所有人的冬季燃料补贴”这一决定所定义。这表明其完全缺乏对这项政策政治影响的认识，而这一举动在选民中引起了强烈反感。
Not long after this, it attempted to slash the spiralling welfare bill. On both issues it was forced into humiliating U-turns, which became the signature of the government. If this were not bad enough, the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington proved catastrophic once the revelations from the Jeffrey Epstein files were made public. Starmer, who had attempted to build a reputation for honesty and integrity, looked incompetent.
不久之后，它试图大幅削减不断膨胀的福利开支。在这两个问题上，它被迫进行了令人难堪的“U型转向”，这成了该政府的标志性特征。如果这些还不够糟糕，任命彼得·曼德尔森担任华盛顿大使的决定，一旦杰弗里·爱泼斯坦档案中的内幕曝光，就证明是灾难性的。斯塔默曾试图建立一个诚实和正直的声誉，但在公众面前却显得无能。
But the big issue for voters was the cost of living, even though the government had tried to combat in-work poverty through the minimum wage and employment rights. The reality for many voters though was that nothing much had changed and people felt they were still living in an age of austerity.
但选民关注的主要问题是生活成本，尽管政府已经试图通过最低工资和就业权来对抗工薪贫困。然而，许多选民的现实感受却是：没有什么实质性改变，人们仍然感觉自己活在一个紧缩时期。
This partly explained the local election results in England in May 2026 when Labour won only 17% of the vote, while Reform UK achieved 26%. Labour lost the Senedd in Wales for the first time, to Plaid Cymru. Welsh Labour came third, and leader Eluned Morgan lost her seat.
这部分解释了2026年5月英格兰的地方选举结果：工党只获得了17%的选票，而改革英国则达到了26%。工党首次在威尔士失去了议会席位，败给了“平民党”（Plaid Cymru）。威尔士工党的得票率排第三，领导人伊卢内德·摩根也失去了她的席位。
The prospect of a Reform government was the threat that alarmed Labour MPs and pulled the rug from under Starmer. Andy Burnham’s victory in Makerfield (where Reform had won most of the council seats in May) suggested that he could bring voters back to the party.
一个由改革英国执政的前景是令工党议员感到警惕并让斯塔默措手不及的威胁。安迪·伯纳姆在梅克菲尔德（Makerfield）的胜利（该地在五月份大部分市议会席位都属于改革英国）表明他能够将选民重新带回工党阵营。
Labour governments also suffer the polarising effects of a predominantly right-wing British media landscape. This often feeds on a sense of grievance and alienation, promoting resentment against immigrants and an “out-of-touch” elite. It appeared that Starmer wanted people to see issues in a complex and nuanced way in order that thoughtful solutions would emerge.
工党政府也受到英国媒体环境主要偏右翼所带来的两极分化影响。这往往利用了人们的不满和疏离感，煽动对移民和“脱节”精英阶层的怨恨。看起来斯塔默希望人们能够以复杂而细致的方式看待问题，以便能出现深思熟虑的解决方案。
But that world may now be ceasing to exist. Voters increasingly want to see politics make an immediate difference. Many seem not to have heard of the work done on employment and health, among other matters. Some think that crime and immigration are going up, whereas the reverse is true. Starmer’s technocratic approach was always going to struggle in an age of populism.
但这个世界可能正在消亡。选民越来越希望政治能够带来立竿见影的变化。许多人似乎没有听说过在就业和健康等方面的努力。一些人认为犯罪率和移民人数都在上升，而事实恰恰相反。斯塔默的技术官僚式方法在一个民粹主义时代注定会挣扎。
How will historians view Starmer? A lot depends on what comes next. Should Labour renew itself in government (which is never an easy thing to do) then he will be seen as someone who remade Labour as a governing party and grappled with complex problems at home and abroad. He has fared better on the international stage than at home. Globally, he has maintained support for Ukraine, recognised a Palestinian state and kept the UK out of Trump’s war in Iran.
历史学家将如何看待斯塔默？很大程度上取决于接下来发生什么。如果工党能够在执政中实现自我更新（这从来都不是一件容易的事），那么他将被视为一位重塑了工党为执政党的领导者，并成功应对了国内外复杂问题的人物。他在国际舞台上的表现比在国内更出色。在全球范围内，他维护了对乌克兰的支持，承认了一个巴勒斯坦国，并将英国排除在特朗普的伊朗战争之外。
Should Reform UK win the next general election, Starmer will be seen as having ushered in a Farage government. His resignation speech revealed him as an honest leader who attempted to serve his country with seriousness and a desire to enhance the common good. Starmer has always been clear that it would take ten years to turn Britain round. His tragedy is that he got only two.
如果改革英国赢得下一次大选，斯塔默将被视为一位开启法拉奇政府的人。他的辞职演说将他描绘成一位诚实的领导者，试图以严肃的态度和改善共同体的愿望来服务国家。斯塔默一直很清楚，要让英国恢复元气需要十年时间。他的悲剧在于，他只得到了两年。
Rohan McWilliam is a member of the Labour party.
罗汉·麦克威廉是工党党员。
