Keir Starmer’s Labour must be careful not to fall into the Neil Kinnock trap of complacency

So far, the Labour leader has done well not to take his party’s assumed victory for granted, writes Andrew Grice. But he must be vigilant: as other centre-left campaigns have found, hubris can undermine even the most secure-looking outcome

Any hint he is taking victory for granted could push some ‘don’t knows’ into the Tory column (PA Wire)

After Labour’s spectacular by-election victories in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, there is a growing feeling among its senior figures that the general election is now the party’s to lose.

However, growing confidence is accompanied by a nagging doubt. If the Conservatives can’t win the election, Labour could still throw it away. The feeling stems not from natural pessimism, but from logic: Labour has previously suffered the crushing disappointment of losing in opposition when it thought it was on the brink of power.

So when Keir Starmer repeatedly orders his party not to show an ounce of complacency – and berates staffers who dare to say it is going to win – he is not going through the motions. For the most part, his party obeys his edict. But Peter Mandelson, the former cabinet minister and an architect of New Labour, spotted worrying signs at the party’s Liverpool conference this month that many Labour figures felt the election had already been won. “That is so poisonous, it is so corrosive for a party,” he told Times Radio.