As Labour’s conference starts in Liverpool Starmer will be hoping to give voters a reason to be enthusiastic about his party
Good morning. The Conservative party conference provided the nation with several blessings – an insight into factional infighting, and a glimpse of where the Tories are heading after the general election, a decision about HS2, a test for whether Rishi Sunak can present himself as a change candidate (answer – no), but what it didn’t provide was any boost for the party in the polls. The Labour conference formally opens in Liverpool today and Keir Starmer will be hoping that his event proves more successful.
The conventional wisdom is that Starmer has brilliantly persuaded the public that Labour has changed from the Corbyn years, and that he has made the case that the Conservatives do not deserve another term in office, but that he has not yet shown why voters should be enthusiastic about Labour. Parties do best when candidates and their supporters can convincingly answer the “I’m voting X because …” question in a clear, compelling sentence. In a interview with Andrew Rawnsley and Toby Helm for the Observer, Starmer says that his mission this week is to address that. He says:
This is the conference we wanted at this stage of the journey and this is where we intend to answer that question ‘Why Labour?’ with confidence and a coherent plan.
