Party historian Jon Cruddas said the chief is a decent man but “remains an elusive leader, difficult to find”.
The Dagenham and Rainham MP was commenting in his new book, A Century of Labour.
Mr Cruddas, who has been an MP since 2001, said that it was “difficult to identify the purpose of a future Starmer government”.
In extracts published by a newspaper from his book, marking 100 years since the formation of the first Labour government in 1924, Mr Cruddas, below, wrote: “Labour appears to be content for the coming election to amount to a referendum on the performance of the governing Conservatives rather than a choice between competing visions of politics and justice.”
But a Labour spokesman said Sir Keir “has driven change throughout his entire career”.
The spokesman added: “In under four years, he has fundamentally changed the Labour Party to make it a government-in-waiting,
acting in the service of working people.”
“As Prime Minister, he’ll change the country for the better.”
The criticism emerged as a Cabinet Minister claimed Sir Keir could pile £2,200 a year on working families.
Tory chairman Richard Holden said that Labour’s promise to invest £28billion in green jobs would be “impossible” without a massive income tax rise for all workers.
Mr Holden said the pledge, combined with Labour’s vow not to increase borrowing, would lead to the basic rate of income tax rising from 20% to 25% – the equivalent of an annual £2,200 hike for the average two-income household. But Labour denied the claim. The party announced in 2021 that it will spend £28billion a year on boosting green-led growth.
In recent months it has had to deny reports that it is considering watering down the policy.
However, Mr Holden said the £28billion pledge “means it is impossible for Sir Keir to do anything on personal taxation except raising it significantly”.
Describing Labour’s commitment as a “growth bung which in the end has to be paid for”, Mr Holden said: “The only way it will be paid for is on the backs of the British people. And it is the equivalent to raising the basic rate of income tax from 20 to 25%. And that would be a colossal impact.”
But Labour have said the suggestion is “total garbage and a desperately absurd claim from a Tory Party which
has increased taxes on working people”.
