If Labour keeps making blunders like these, Nigel Farage will be our next Prime Minister

It’s not just the party whose hopes have been deflated. The public is also getting the message that times are hard. Market research company GfK’s consumer confidence barometer recently fell by seven points to minus 20, while people’s confidence in their own finances is also now negative.

Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves clearly felt it was important that everyone should realise the scale of mess they inherited from the Conservatives, but they have done such a good job at spreading this message that they now risk undermining investors’ faith in the economy. Hopefully, suggestions that conference speakers plan to strike a more upbeat tone will prove to be accurate.

The row over the decision to means-test winter fuel payments for pensioners has dominated the period since the election. This was the right decision – universal benefits that give money to people who don’t need it are luxuries the country simply cannot afford – but it feels like Labour could have handled its introduction better. Had they provided a little more help for those who will just miss out under the new rules than a “Pension Credit awareness drive”, the predictable uproar might have subsided more quickly.

Meanwhile, Starmer’s defence of lavish gifts given to him and his wife Victoria – including corporate tickets to watch Arsenal play football and expensive clothes for her – could hardly have been in greater contrast to the prospect of poor pensioners struggling to stay warm in winter.

Labour’s mistakes have largely been around their messaging, rather than policies, but if they keep making them, they could find themselves in real trouble. And this time, the stakes are particularly high. If this Labour government fails, would voters return to a mainstream Conservative party?

Nigel Farage has boasted of becoming the next Prime Minister. If Labour keeps on like this, he may well be right.