The ‘Toolmakers Son’: Keir Starmer and the emergence of techno neo-statism

Abstract This paper introduces the concept of techno neo-statism to define and interpret Keir Starmer’s statecraft during Labour’s first year in government. Techno neo-statism seeks to harness innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies to strategically revive and finetune state capacity so that it can drive public sector and economic productivity while protecting the ‘national interest’ from perceived threats and insecurities. Three prevalent strands demonstrate our argument: The emphasis on an active state that guarantees a baseline level of security; the call for a streamlined state capable of delivering active government with fewer resources; and a belief that digital and AI governance can resolve the tension between these two objectives. Significantly, we argue that techno neo-statism constitutes an attempt to address aspects of the UK’s ‘crisis of governance’ through technical interventions aimed at restoring state capacity in the policymaking process. However, in the absence of corresponding institutional reforms to an increasingly incoherent system of governance, techno neo-statism is unlikely to improve the UK’s ailing public sector.