Blur’s Dave Rowntree shares his thoughts on Keir Starmer

Blur’s Dave Rowntree has shared his opinion of Labour leader Keir Starmer in a new interview with NME.

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The Britpop veteran was taking part in the latest installation of NME’s Does Rock N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! series when he was asked to recall key moments from throughout his career, including his work in politics.

Alongside his role as the drummer for Blur, Rowntree has also had a successful career in politics throughout much of the 21st Century – even going as far as to be elected as a Labour Councillor in Norfolk in 2017.

Now, following his time in the role, which came to an end in 2021, the musician revealed his thoughts on current Labour leader, Keir Starmer.

“Well, the test is at General Elections,” he began, discussing how well he thinks the figurehead is faring with the public. “If he wins the General Election, he’ll be widely touted as the most visionary Labour leader of modern times and will join the incredibly small number of Labour leaders who’ve gone on to become prime minister.”

“If he loses, he’ll be regarded as an idiot who wrecked the Labour Party and achieved nothing,” he continued. “That’s how politics works – it’s pointless saying how he’s doing at the moment. The purpose of being the leader of the Labour Party is to win the General Election. He’s either going to do it or he isn’t.”

This isn’t the first time that Rowntree has talked politics with NME. Last year he also shared his overall perspective of the current political climate following the release of his debut solo single ‘London Bridge’.

Here, he highlighted how he believes that those in office are showing less accountability than ever before, and claimed that the British public is seemingly fine with the underlying issues in government.

“I can’t remember a time when politicians have had such a lack of accountability,” he said. “All of these individual issues would have been the end of the career of pretty much any other Prime Minister in history. That’s both the benefit and the danger of large majorities – the final arbiter of a Prime Minister’s conduct is Parliament, and if the Prime Minister controls Parliament then the Prime Minister is unaccountable, apart from every five years when there’s an election.”

He continued: “I can’t think of a time since I first started taking note of politics that there’s been such a lack of accountability and a lack of interest in that fact by the public. Everyone’s just shrugging their shoulders and going, ‘Oh well, that’s what he’s like! We knew he’d be a shower of shit when we voted for him’ – and then voila! A shower of shit! It’s just all factored in.”

In other Blur news, Damon Albarn and co. are set to release their upcoming album, ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ on Friday (July 21). It’s their first full-length LP since 2015’s ‘The Magic Whip’.

The band also recently wrapped their two back-to-back performances at London’s Wembley Stadium earlier this month. The mammoth shows earned a five-star review from NME, which praised the members for their ability to galvanise their audience with a mix of new tracks and fan favourites.

“This evening, Albarn remains a top-tier frontman, making deadpan remarks and climbing into the audience while still allowing each of his bandmates their own moment in the spotlight,” it read.

“Coxon’s guitar skills are as masterful as ever, his voice unchanged since 1999 as he sings fan favourite ‘Coffee and TV’; James’ confident swagger is on full display as he plays the iconic bassline of ‘Girls & Boys’. Rowntree, meanwhile, pulls off a phenomenal solo in ‘Trimm Trabb’.

“Still, with decades of material to their name, Blur keep us guessing what era we’ll be jumping into next.”

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