How could he not be happy?
It was the first time the Labor leader had addressed the conference as prime minister in 15 years – 5,474 days, if you include gloomy party activists.
It’s no surprise, then, that Sir Keir Starmer was given a warm welcome by ordinary people in the halls.
The long wait is over. Party leaders will not stand aside to harshly criticize the government, but describe what the government – a Labor government – will actually do.
Well, to an extent. It was a speech that was relatively little about new policies and more about political framework.
As advertised, Prime Minister Continuing from where Chancellor Rachel Reeves left yesterday – Not just a pessimistic warning about the tough decisions to come, but an attempt to appear more optimistic about the dividends that come with making tough choices.
But again – only to a certain extent. Starmer said there was no more “false hope”. There are no “easy answers” anymore.
Yes, he said, there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the government’s view remains very clear that there is going to be a very long tunnel.
Perhaps the most consistent and fresh theme is trade-offs – areas where the Prime Minister said his Conservative predecessors were dishonest.
Cheaper power requires new transmission towers, he said (to loud applause). Public consent to the welfare state requires legislation to stop welfare fraud. Justice demands that people live close to the new prison. Solving the problem of illegal immigration requires granting asylum to some people.
While insisting there are no easy answers, the weighed options here do seem to reveal the Prime Minister’s preferences: more towers, a tougher welfare system, more prisons, clearer routes to legal asylum claims.
These are clear ways forward in some tricky policy areas. But it still needs more meat on the bones. take prison example. How will the planning system ensure communities do not oppose or slow down the construction of new prisons? How will the new prison be funded? What crimes does the Prime Minister believe should or should not result in a custodial sentence?
That’s the risk – over time this will come across as a speech that’s more diagnosis than prescription.
The opposite is also possible: the speech set the framework for a decade of national regeneration, which Sir Keir went on to describe as his aim.
This will require governments to deliver on their promises in the coming weeks, months and years. Can they do this?
It is impossible to examine this issue without mentioning it. Briefings and leaks about Starmer’s operations in Downing Street These were topics of conversation at gatherings and dinners at this conference.
The jubilant campaigners provided an important morale boost to Labor senior leaders, who are deeply concerned about whether the Prime Minister has the right team for the right job and are deeply divided on the answers, regardless of public denials.
This may sound mundane given the scale of the challenge Starmer diagnosed in his speech, but the government’s delivery relies on Downing Street firing on all cylinders.
Even cabinet ministers have spent much of the past few days privately bemoaning what they see as shortcomings in the government’s operations.
The Prime Minister may need to address these issues to solve Britain’s problems.
