A slogan so boring not even Starmer could remember it – but it is right

The Labour leader appeared to forget his own three-word list, but it is a useful guide to Labour’s road ahead, writes John Rentoul

‘“Security, prosperity and…”’ (PA Wire)

The three-word slogan that was advertised in advance of Keir Starmer’s speech was so featureless that people were bound to struggle to remember it. Inevitably, it was the leader himself who in answer to journalists’ questions afterwards tried to repeat the values he had listed in the speech: “Security, prosperity and…” He paused, took a drink of water, and went on: “... and respect.”

He got there in the end, but a list of abstract nouns with no alliteration or rhyme to connect them is never going to stick in anybody’s mind, not even in the mind of the person who has just delivered a speech built around those three themes.

It was, furthermore, a lightweight speech, devoid of much content or argument, and although the delivery was more relaxed and fluent than usual, it was hardly oratory. It had its clunking moments: “‘Making Brexit Work’ is painstaking work, and slogans won’t cut it.” But even Tony Blair once said “now is not a time for soundbites” before ending that sentence with “the hand of history is on our shoulder”, and I think Starmer’s was an important speech that could set the tone for Labour.