Is Keir Starmer trying to build a legacy or just getting on with the job? | TheBriefWire
Is Keir Starmer trying to build a legacy or just getting on with the job?
Published 9 June 2026 Β· politics
As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that last As the
As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that last As the weeks ticked down to her departure from Downing Street in 2019, Theresa May had a plan.
Not only did she want to put a net zero target into law, but she wanted the UK to be the first major economy to do so. And that meant beating the French.
βIt required the machinery of government to move more quickly than the French parliament,β a No 10 official from the time recalls. And it worked: the UK target came into force in June 2019, six weeks before May handed over to Boris Johnson, and five months before the French.
Published: June 9, 2026 β’ 11:30 AM IST Β· Updated: June 9, 2026 β’ 12:11 PM ISTBy TheBriefWire Editorial Team
Key points
As the Makerfield byelection and a potential leadership challenge loom, there is a sense the PM is looking to create impacts that last As the weeks ticked down to her departure from Downing Street in 2019, Theresa May had a plan.
Not only did she want to put a net zero target into law, but she wanted the UK to be the first major economy to do so.
And that meant beating the French.
βIt required the machinery of government to move more quickly than the French parliament,β a No 10 official from the time recalls.
And it worked: the UK target came into force in June 2019, six weeks before May handed over to Boris Johnson, and five months before the French.
The BriefWire