Keir Starmer has used a 90-minute conference speech to urge former Labour voters to return to the party, promising he will never “go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government”. Here is the full text of the speech. And here are verdicts on the speech from a Guardian panel: Steve Richards, Polly Toynbee, Zoe Williams, and Moya Lothian-McLean.
Here is an extract from Richard’s article. Starmer is a leader of integrity and substance, pitted against a PM he has called a “trickster”. This is potentially a compelling juxtaposition, but there is a risk for him that most voters will note only a troubled party compared with the deceptively united front on display at the Conservatives’ conference next week. Here is an extract from Toynbee’s. Few but political obsessives notice conference speeches, but messages percolate out over time. By mysterious osmosis people will know Starmer better after this week, and they’ll be a step closer to envisaging an alternative prime minister: the longer chaos reigns around the country, the more they need one. Here begins the rebuilding of trust after Labour’s great calamity at the last election. Here is an extract from Williams’. Starmer is still genuinely uncomfortable talking about himself. In the early days of his leadership, those with his ear used to plead with him to show more of his background. Starmer still finds this toe curling, and though he has finally been persuaded of its necessity, he goes at it with a sincerity that is over-baked and painful to watch. “The eye on the object,” was how he repeatedly distilled his father’s craftsmanship. It was meant to mean something, but in God’s name, what? Honest, working people, staring at things; those are Labour Values. And here is an extract from Lothian-McLean’s. “Shouting slogans or changing lives?” was Starmer’s response to one heckler, which served only to highlight that he has yet to convincingly do either. Finishing up on yet another reference to his toolmaker father, the Labour leader walked off to a standing ovation. But only concrete action will be enough to convince the wider public that he’s a tool for their betterment, rather than just another cog in a failing political machine.