Labour’s turnaround might be achieved within a single parliamentary term

At last, the party is bored of losing more than it is bored of Keir Starmer, says Sean O’Grady

Keir Starmer addressing his party in Liverpool (Reuters)

Keir Starmer making a speech about solar power, wind farms and home insulation can’t be many people’s idea of a fun afternoon in Liverpool, but the Labour Party was certainly enjoying itself as he trudged his way through his green agenda.

They say Starmer is a dull speaker, but he got the assembled democratic socialists to their feet when he announced the prospective launch of a nationalised utility named Great British Energy.

His hair lustrous and groomed, his rhetoric more lively than usual, a few good jokes and a solidly centrist platform, Starmer made Labour sound like a party of government. Nato; the SNP; antisemitism; national interest before party interest; even levelling up: Starmer said all the right things. He mostly avoided Brexit, wisely. The old Blairite line about being the “political wing of the British people” is as bizarre and meaningless as it was in the 1990s, but it fitted the moment. The one crucial thing that was probably missing was a simple compelling reason why Labour would make people better off: families need to pay the bills.