After 100 days in office, the media narrative around Starmer’s government paints a bleak picture. Al Jazeera called it the “worst start in living memory”, Le Monde questioned “where’s the hope?”, and the BBC labelled it “Dream wins and nightmares”. Yet, public opinion shows a more nuanced view: while a YouGov poll indicates 39% of people think the country is now worse under Labour, 37% say this result was expected – mostly from Conservative and Reform supporters. With media headlines tending toward sensationalism, it’s worth asking if these early assessments reflect political reality or simply echo the frustrations of recent electoral losers.
It would be wrong to suggest that there isn’t disappointment in the current government. However, a headline could equally have read: “After 100 days, those that lost are still miffed”, echoing the predominantly negative headlines and comments against remain voters following the much closer Brexit vote in 2016.
100 days: the recent past
Between 5 July 1984 and 4 July 2024, there have been ten general elections. During that time, we have also had nine different prime ministers. For clarity, the first 100 days are taken from the first day the Prime Minister takes office, which is not always when he or she has won a general election.
Rishi Sunak
On 2 February 2023, Rishi Sunak reached his 100 day milestone. On that day, there were a variety of headlines, mostly focusing on the teachers strike.
In reviewing his time in office so far, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg asked if it had been “calm or ‘cringe’?”. In a slightly different take, CNN described the first 100 days of the Sunak administration as “torrid”, highlighting a number of scandals, including those involving Nadhim Zahawi and the resignation of Dominic Raab, as well as the fact that he was trying to cope with the mess left by his predecessor.
Liz Truss
Liz Truss came to office on 6 September 2022 and will forever be humorously followed by the spectre of a lettuce. The reality of her tenure, though, was far from a joke.
The head of state, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, died on 8 September 2022, and the nation entered ten days of national mourning.
On the day of the state funeral, on 18 September, a video from 1994 of Liz Truss branding the monarchy ‘disrespectful and calling for it to be abolished’ resurfaced. Truss also faced pressure over the cost-of-living crisis, energy costs and industrial action. And she was held responsible for the disastrous mini budget announced on 23 September 2022, which would go on to cost the UK treasury £30bn.
Liz Truss resigned as Prime Minister on 25 October 2022. She had been in office for 50 days. That day, the newspapers ran with the arrival of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister; the Daily Telegraph highlighted his call for the party to “unite or die”, while the Daily Mirror pointed out he had not been democratically elected.
Boris Johnson
Johnson took office after the resignation of Theresa May. The first 100 days of his administration featured broken promises and illegal acts. Starting as he meant to carry on, he removed the whip from Conservatives MPs that disagreed with him over Brexit, and illegally asked Queen Elizabeth to prorogue parliament for over five weeks. He faced criticism for his involvement with Jennifer Arcuri, and for promoting Dominic Cummings to the role of chief of staff.
Boris Johnson’s first 100 days in office ended on 31 October 2019. The headlines on that day saw some calling for the resignation of the head of the London fire service after the Grenfell fire, while the Daily Mail ran with the headline that Boris Johnson was more trusted with the NHS than the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Theresa May
There are many articles about Theresa May’s first 100 days in office. The majority are dominated by Brexit. Yet the headlines on 21 October 2016 when she reached her 100 day milestone, were more about removing the knighthood from Sir Philip Green than anything else. The Guardian readers who wrote to the paper said she had no strategy, while The Independent noted that she had plans for the economy and grammar schools, but no answers for the refugee crisis or the future of the United Kingdom itself.
David Cameron
David Cameron became Prime Minister in a coalition in the wake of a financial crisis, and this set the tone for his first 100 days of office. Austerity began here, as did the anxiety of the Liberal Democrats in the cabinet. The coalition celebrated 100 days in power on 18 August 2010.
Gordon Brown
Having spent ten years as Chancellor, Gordon Brown took office after the resignation of Tony Blair. The majority of the criticism against Mr Brown at the end of his first 100 days, on 5 October 2007, stemmed from the Conservative leaning media’s view of his apparent reluctance to seek reform of the European Union, but he also had to deal with a series of devastating terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow, as well as an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Tony Blair
The first 100 days of the Blair government (10 August 1997), saw change and disappointment. In his first act, Tony Blair changed the format of Prime Minister’s questions from two 15-minute sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday to the currently used one 30-minute format on a Wednesday, with each leader given double the number of questions to ask. This period is also remembered for the Bank of England being given the power to set base interest rates, and the beginning of events that would lead to the Bernie Ecclestone lobbying affair.
John Major
John Major became Prime Minister following the leadership battle between Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine. The first 100 days of his government saw the start of the first Gulf War, an IRA terror attack on Downing Street, the need to deal with the unpopular ‘Poll Tax’ which had provoked riots earlier that year, and the early 1990’s recession. John Major’s first 100 days as Prime Minister ended on 8 March 1991, a day where, according to internet searches, not a lot happened.
Headline or between the lines?
As Labour has just completed navigating this demanding period, it’s clear that the concept of a ‘first 100 days’ in office – a political trope imported from the US that has become a convenient media metric – is largely meaningless when measuring a government’s ability to effect real social change.
Starmer’s early missteps were amplified into outrage by a press largely hostile to his political aims, eager to frame any stumble as a sign of failure. Adding to this challenge was Labour’s newly-established communications team which, for example, when handling changes to the winter fuel allowance, struggled to set the narrative and get on top of government messaging. In a media environment primed to exploit even trivial missteps, the importance of a polished, agile communications strategy can’t be overstated – yet it’s one Starmer’s team has yet to fully master.
Given the scale of Labour’s mandate, real policy impact will require time to bed in and address the complex challenges at hand. Any true measure of Labour’s effectiveness will take shape not in these early days, but in the long, difficult work of building a fairer, more progressive society. With that in mind, a better judgement might be made after the first five years when the people, not the press, will have their say.
