Labour leader’s low-stakes speech was a decent marker – and enough to spook Boris into more waffle
Call it a trial run. With parliament still on recess (what better way for MPs to endear themselves to the country than to award themselves an extra day off over the new year break?), Tuesday was as good a time as any for Keir Starmer to test-drive his latest pitch to voters. If it went well, so much the better: he would be ahead of the game. But if parts fell flat then there would be plenty of time to put them right in more important speeches ahead. Such as ones where more than a handful of people outside Westminster were listening.
Yet even though the stakes couldn’t have been much lower, the Labour leader was leaving nothing to chance. The set was the full Liz “Gloriana” Truss, with two large union jacks for a backdrop. If it took draping himself in flags to prove that he – and the Labour party – were patriotic then so be it. Keir didn’t care if he was laying it on a bit thick. He would bathe in red, white and blue if necessary. Whatever it took.
