The first words that Keir Starmer spoke to a friend after he left the Labour conference stage in Liverpool were “that was me”. His speech – which he took a more direct role in drafting – was that of the man left-leaning members elected in 2020: socially progressive, economically interventionist. The implication of Starmer’s words is that other addresses – such as “islands of strangers” – were not him.
But which Starmer are we getting today? The day after he again condemned Reform’s deportation policy as “racist” – which some in government fear was a “big error” – the Prime Minister has declared that he will end the “golden ticket” available to asylum seekers who wish to settle in the UK. Refugees will no longer be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years and will lose the automatic right to family reunion. “These measures are taken straight from the populist playbook the government itself has condemned,” argues the charity Freedom from Torture. Confused? Voters might well be.
There is, of course, a technical explanation of all this. Starmer used his conference speech to criticise those who “ignore the crisis in our asylum system” and to argue that “controlling who comes here is an essential task”. Unlike Reform’s plans, government sources confirm, the policy is non-retrospective: “no families sent home, no settlement rescinded”.
But the politics, so soon after Starmer declared a “fight for the soul of the nation” is undeniably messy. And that battle, extolled with passion by the Prime Minister, is one that plenty inside Labour are questioning whether he can win.
“We cannot make the next election about whether you are a patriot or not,” warns one minister. “Nigel Farage loves this country just as much as I do. He is wrong about what makes it stronger in a very profound way.”
In Labour circles, unhappy comparisons are being drawn with the doomed campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. “If Starmer’s speech has licensed moral superiority, a permission to think that those persuaded by Reform might be less British or less moral than us it will be a dangerous failure,” says one minister (the PM has emphasised that he does not regard Farage or his supporters as racist).
And there’s concern from the left too. “All of this ignores the reality in the country where millions are struggling to get by,” warns one senior MP of Labour’s unexpectedly upbeat conference. “This is where Farage’s hand is stronger because he is an insurgent and Starmer looks, talks and sounds like the ‘British establishment’.”
There’s a common thread to those criticisms: until people see a material improvement in their lives, moral condemnation will do Labour little good. And that’s a danger Stamer and his strategists are alert to.
“We must go into that battle armed, not just with words and condemnation but with action,” argued Statmer in advance of a lengthy section on immigration. “And that means tackling all the problems that they [Reform] prey upon”.
But only a day after Labour conference, the political danger is clear: an unpopular Prime Minister who is shedding voters both to his left and right because neither side believes he is truly for them.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Reject X, embrace trains]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to comment