Why Starmer is courting TikTok influencers

Spectator

3 days ago

Some of my oldest and dearest school friends absolutely hate reading the news. One called me up nearly a week after Rishi Sunak called last year's election to ask if I fancied a weekend in the countryside. 'That sounds great,' I said 'but you know I'm working on the election?' 'Oh my gosh, there's an election?! Totally missed that!' she squealed.
Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss. Her bliss, however, has been somewhat disrupted by TikTok. I nearly fell off my chair when she asked if I'd seen Keir Starmer's Labour party conference speech last year. Starmer's demand for the release of the sausages (instead of hostages), had understandably, gone viral, reaching even my staunchly anti-media friends.
Social media's deep reach into the wider population is why Starmer's decision to host up to 90 influencers in No. 10 yesterday is smart. Ofcom found that over half of adults now get their news from social media. In the US, that's more than consume media from TV networks or news websites. The outsized impact of podcasters in elections demonstrates which way the wind is blowing. No wonder White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt now holds exclusive press briefings for influencers: 'Millions of Americans are now turning to social media and independent media outlets to consume their news, and we are embracing that change, not ignoring it,' she said during the first influencer briefing earlier this year.
This shift isn't limited to politics and the media. Social media has become the world's largest advertising channel, driven in part by influencer marketing. Platforms like MasterClass – featuring courses from the likes of Gordon Ramsey and Serena Williams – demonstrate the public's preference for learning from individuals perceived as authentic, rather than traditional institutions.
Despite the sneering, Starmer's turn to influencers is hardly revolutionary. In 2018, Theresa May's team drew up lists of key Twitter influencers to help sell her Chequers deal. Rishi Sunak made videos with everyone from 'Budgeting Mum' Beth Turbutt-Rogers to endurance athlete, Hardest Geezer. Across the political spectrum, digital communications teams increasingly focus on the general public, while traditional press operations, such as those who handle the papers, are seen as a conduit to Britain's institutional elite.
That's not to say that Starmer's strategy is not without its pitfalls. There's the irony of No. 10 courting TikTokers while the app is banned on government devices. But the more fundamental problem for Starmer is that government communications is a two-sided coin. It's about both what you're saying and how you're saying it. While recruiting influencers shows No. 10 is getting better at finding their messengers, the question remains: what is Starmer's message?
Starmer's lack of narrative has already been covered extensively, but it is worth reiterating that his failure to communicate effectively has significant consequences beyond the polls. Without a compelling narrative on winter fuel and welfare reform, the government has been forced into costly concessions, diverting billions that Reeves will now have to borrow or raise in tax.
Some see this week's other communications shake up, the appointment of former Sun editor and News UK Chief Operating Officer David Dinsmore to the new role of a civil service comms chief, as a sign that No. 10 are getting serious about fixing this. Dinsmore is a seasoned operator with tabloid instincts, a skillset often missing in government communications teams. While his appointment has ruffled the feathers of the Labour left and those who praised Starmer for his pledge to boycott the Sun over Hillsborough, it signals yet another attempt from Starmer to get to grips with governing.
Unfortunately for Labour, Dinsmore is only starting in November. If Starmer's influencers don't start performing soon, they'll leave the field open to perhaps the most impactful influencer of them all: Nigel and his iPhone.