This week’s Labour conference was likely the final one before a general election. What did we learn about Keir Starmer’s party?
Starmer had one task: to answer the question “why Labour?” The conference speech he gave on Tuesday (10 October) was arguably the most important of his career, which he acknowledged by speaking of how his party would, in 2024, have to emulate its achievements in 1997 – “to rebuild a crumbling public realm” – 1964 – modernise an economy “left behind by the pace of technology” – and in 1945 – “to build a new Britain out of the trauma of collective sacrifice”. Labour was pitched as a party of “builders”, opposed to the decline and stagnation of chaotic Tory rule.
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