Good morning. The Labour party’s four-day annual conference starts this morning in Liverpool and the headline on the Sunday Times splash sums up the challenge facing Keir Starmer: can he pull things round?
In party politics terms, what that means is: can Labour recover its lead in the polls? At least, can it do that in time for the next general election? And, in practice that means, can Labour see of the threat from Reform UK. “I think we can pull this round,” Starmer told the Sunday Times, in an interview with its political editor, Caroline Wheeler.
The next four days won’t settle this question. Sometimes political parties get a modest boost in the polls after their party conference, but Labour are about 10 points behind Reform in polls at the moment and no one is expecting them to close that gap this week. But Labour members will be looking for evidence that that party is on the right track. In particular, there are three problems Starmer needs to address. First, he is accused of being a lousy communicator. Will we see any evidence that he is raising his game? Second, he is accused of being not even sure what he wants to communicate in the first place. Commentators, and even some Labour MPs, say they are not clear about the government’s guiding mission. Will we get clarity on that? And, third, voters want clear evidence that Labour is bringing about meaningful change. Will we get policy that ticks that box?
Over the last few weeks some Labour MPs have been talking privately about the benefits of getting a new leader. In his Sunday Times interview, Starmer said the party had to abandon this sort of “navel-gazing”. He said:
It is the fight of our times and we’ve all got to be in it together. We don’t have time for introspection, we don’t have time for navel-gazing. You’ll always get a bit of that at a Labour party conference, but that is not going to solve the problems that face this country.
Once you appreciate the change — in the sense of the division that Reform would bring to our country and the shattering of what we are as a patriotic country — then you realise this is a fight which in the end is bigger than the Labour party.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, and Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, are interviewed on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
9am: Keir Starmer is interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Other guests include Alan Johnson, a former Labour home secretary, Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB union, and Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
11am: The conference opens.
11.40am: Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary, speaks. In a session on party business, Ellie Reeves, the national policy forum chair, Anna Turley, the Labour chair, and Bev Craig, leader of Manchester city council and leader of the Labour group on the LGA (Local Government Association) also speak.
12.35pm: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, speaks.
2.05pm: Anthony Albanese, the Australian PM and leader of the Australian Labor party, speaks.
2.30pm: Douglas Alexander, the Scottish secretary, speaks.
2.30pm: Peter Kyle, the business secretary, takes part in a Social Market Foundation Q&A at a fringe meeting.
2.45pm: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, speaks to the conference.
3pm: Jo Stevens, the Welsh secretary, speaks.
3.15pm: Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, speaks.
4pm: Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary speaks at a fringe meeting.
4.30pm: David Lammy, the deputy PM, takes part in a Financial Times Q&A at a fringe meeting.
5pm: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes part in an LCEF (Labour Climate and Environment Forum) Q&A at a fringe meeting.
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