Although he crossed the boredom threshold eventually, the toolmaker’s son showed he wasn’t as wooden as he’d seemed
He’s back. Not Keir Starmer, because he hasn’t really been away. Even if not everyone knew exactly who he was or what he stood for before the conference. But Tony Blair. After more than a decade of Labour politicians trying to eradicate their former leader from the party’s consciousness, Starmer dared to rehabilitate his memory. To make a real difference to people’s lives, you needed to be in government and he was proud of New Labour’s record. Labour was the party of patriots and when it came to levelling up, Blair and Gordon Brown had achieved far more in their time in office than the Tories had managed in the past 11 years.
And the delegates in the hall in Brighton seemed to love Starmer’s first conference speech to a live audience. As if they had been given permission to relive the glories of a secret past without first having to apologise for the war in Iraq. True, there were some hecklers. The first started within minutes of Starmer taking the stage – a lone voice singing, “Oh, Je-re-my Cor-byn” – and they continued throughout. Some feebly waved A4 sheets of paper under the impression they were football referees showing Keir the red card, while others became increasingly random, shouting “Where’s Peter Mandelson?” and “Free Julian Assange.”
