Keir Starmer being miserable and offering to ‘sweat blood’ is not going to get voters

The Labour leader had an opportunity to tell people that he is determined to change the party, and he blew it, writes John Rentoul

Sir Keir Starmer, not happy (BBC News)

Why did he say that? One seasoned observer of politics asked me why Keir Starmer said he would be “sweating blood” to earn the trust of the British people. He had been asked, by Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC political editor, what was the most important thing he had heard while talking to former Labour voters in Blackpool on Thursday.

It was an open question. He could have said anything he wanted about how he hoped to win them back – and he chose to describe the pain and difficulty of his own struggle rather than anything that would actually give other people a reason to vote for him.

You can see what he is trying to do. He needs to tell the voters that he understands why they didn’t vote Labour last time and that he is determined to change the party. It is a message directed towards his own supporters as much as it is to floating voters.