Rachel Reeves has said her economic proposals are inspired by Bidenomics, but even though America’s economy is prospering regular voters hated how Biden got them there – and that should worry Labour, says Will Cooling

Yesterday brought to an end Joe Biden’s long goodbye from public life. A man who once convened private meetings with historians to discuss how he could ensure his presidency would be considered a transformational one, will instead be remembered as nothing more than a failed interregnum between President Trump’s first and second acts. 

But in Britain we shouldn’t forget that, until the wheels came off, many within Labour saw tremendous similarities between themselves and Joe Biden’s administration. And that should set alarm bells ringing, because Biden’s fall from grace is no unfortunate accident. 

While Sir Keir Starmer is older than most of his peers in Westminster, at 62 years old he is still young enough to be Joe Biden’s son. So the question of Starmer being too old for the job is not a concern, but a quality he does share with the former President is a disinclination to clearly set priorities for his administration. Biden would repeatedly leave it to Senate moderates to reign in the wilder excesses of his party, whilst Starmer is comfortable letting the Treasury impose fiscal discipline on his ministers spending plans. But this is a negative form of moderation that not only creates a sense of drift and division, but can lead to the wrong issues being prioritised. 

A quality Starmer shares with the former President is a disinclination to clearly set priorities for his administration

It is not that long ago that Rachel Reeves openly said that Labour’s economic proposals were inspired by Bidenomics. Whether it’s the investments in green energy, embrace of tighter employment regulations and a higher minimum wage, investment in childcare, failure to rapidly unwind cuts to legal immigration, or desire to get the country building again, the similarities are there for all to see. Even today you can argue that this economic programme worked given that America has the strongest economy in the developed world, with strong economic growth and high employment. 

The only problem is that people hated how Biden got them there, not least the high inflation it generated. Given that Britain is still dealing with much higher fuel prices than was the case four years ago, the government may want to ponder the full impact of trying to run the economy hot to improve productivity and expand capacity. Even if it works, the leaner economy it creates may just feel meaner to the average voter. 

But for the biggest warning, it’s actually worth going all the way back to the 2020 election. Despite his administration having been a messy soap opera at the best of times and a dangerous liability at the worst, Donald Trump actually secured 11m more votes than he secured in 2016. Biden had won, but without the overwhelming mandate that the opinion polls had predicted. 

The right divided

If this sounds familiar, it’s because something similar happened here in the UK. Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister in 2024 but he secured far fewer votes than anyone expected. A divided right means he enjoys a parliamentary majority far larger than any American congressional leader could dream of, but there is no getting away from the fact that Labour was not as popular as many thought they were going into last year’s general election. And that means, just like Joe Biden, Sir Keir Starmer has far less margin for error than one might assume.  

And if Labour are tempted to tell themselves that the Tories or Reform UK are clearly incapable of changing sufficiently to seize the opportunity should they disappoint swing voters, they should look again at the man who took the Oath yesterday. Because Donald Trump hasn’t changed one bit, and yet he still managed to win.

Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could be Said Substack