Sir Keir starmer has received the backing of one of the most influential financiers in the world. He said that Starmer had given him hope for politics.
Larry Fink is the Chairman and Chief Executive of BlackRock. The world’s biggest fund manager. Fink said that the Labour leader has shown “real strength” in bringing the party to the center ground after years spent under Jeremy Corbyn.
He expressed his hope that Labour’s transformation would be a sign that the populism symbolized by Donald Trump in politics is ending.
BlackRock’s boss, who manages assets valued at $8.5trillion ($7trn), said to the Wall Street Journal that he was “very pleased” to see the Labour Party in the UK go from being an extremist group with a Marxist as its leader to Keir starmer.
“It’s actually given me hope to see the pendulum go so far.”
The UK is the country that began the high-level populism with Brexit, and the populism in the US led to Donald Trump becoming president.
“I hope that the UK will – we’ll see what happens when Keir starmer is elected, but I think this is a measure of hope.”
Mr Fink was a lifelong Democrat and would have been expected to lead the Treasury had Hilary Clinton beaten Donald Trump at the 2016 US Presidential election. He has seldom intervened in UK politics.
BlackRock’s spokesman stated: “Larry offered his observations on Labour Party transformation and his opinion that political parties moving toward the center was a measure of hope. He did not endorse any political party.