For much of the last three years since Keir Starmer took over as Labour leader, the party’s approach has been characterised by a caution that, when it finally took the lead in the polls, morphed into warnings about complacency. After suffering its worst electoral defeat in more than 80 years in 2019, some MPs were so demoralised they questioned whether Labour would ever make it back to power in their working lifetimes. As recently as autumn 2021, Boris Johnson looked set for a decade of government as he, in the memorable words of one commentator, squatted across British politics like a giant toad. Starmer’s first response was to home in on why voters had lost faith in Labour – Jeremy Corbyn, Brexit, national security, the public finances among the issues – and focus on neutralising each in turn. His next step was to take the fight to the Conservatives, ably assisted by Boris Johnson and Liz Truss’s numerous own goals. But sitting back and trying to win purely by not being the Tories was never going to be enough. From the off, Starmer has faced an impatient party, media and public, keen for an insight on his big vision for a future Labour government. He kept them waiting. “He knew he had to do the other bits first,” one close aide says.
His speech to set out his five missions for government marked a turning point. We may not have learned much more about the detail of his plans than we did before, but he offered a first substantial glimpse of what a future Labour government might do. Manchester was the first in a series of events – the second of which is next week on the economy – over the coming months that will set out in more detail Labour’s plans for health, education, crime and climate. They are not, however, expected to include thorny issues such as immigration. Starmer, as he sprang on to the podium in rolled-up shirt sleeves, making jokes about nights out on the town with Angela Rayner and the performance of his beloved Arsenal, appeared more confident than he has to date. He accused the Tories of being “clapped out” and “devoid of ideas”, but most of his spiel was about what Labour could offer as an alternative to give the UK the “confidence to move forward” after being stuck in a “crouched position” for far too long. After the speech, he shrugged off questions from some of the media about trust – could the public have faith he would actually deliver on his “missions” if he made it to No 10 given he’d dumped his own leadership pledges, he was asked. “These are our missions, this is our way of working,” he said. “I’m very happy to have that tested. If anybody wants to know if the public trust and want any of this, then there’s a very good way to find out. Let’s have a general election.” Senior Labour figures remain wary about the robustness of their 20-point lead over the Conservatives – they still believe that it is soft as a result of the government’s own woes – and the assumption from some Tory MPs that it is their turn for an election routing. They also quote constituents who tell them on the doorstep that they don’t yet know what Starmer stands for, and who ask what he would do if he made it into No 10. But for the first time since he took over as Labour leader, they’ll know how to answer.