PM is urged to 'do a Trump' and make more media appearances

Senior Labour figures are urging Keir Starmer to take a leaf out of Donald Trump's book and make more media appearances in an attempt to dominate the political agenda.

- Kiran Stacey

MPs have told the Guardian they want the prime minister to act more like Trump, who has upended convention by televising large parts of his cabinet, holding long meetings on camera and calling in to TV shows.

The strategy is very different from that employed by the prime minister, who has said he wants politics to intrude less in people's lives, and can go several days without a public appearance. Some in his party believe this safety-first approach is ill-suited to modern politics, where the news agenda moves rapidly and traditional outlets have less power than ever.

One minister said: "Trump and [the vice-president] JD Vance have shown the advantage of getting out there and not worrying about making mistakes. In the run-up to the election, Vance did multiple disastrous podcast interviews, but people did not focus on them for long. Eventually he started getting noticed for the things he wanted to say."

They added: "That style of media strategy seems to make a lot more sense than making the occasional appearance on the [BBC] Today programme or Laura Kuenssberg."