Keir Starmer's jokes landed well but they can't hide his lack of ideas
Sir Keir Starmer needs to find some ideas if he doesn’t want this conference to be his last.
Sir Keir Starmer surprisingly showed some humour during his conference speech - but this didn’t make up for his lack of ideas.
The Prime Minister mocked himself for regularly referring to his father’s job and had a fun jab at the Tories.
Sir Keir said with a wry smile: “People like my dad. I think by now you know what he did for a living.”
He continued: “But then again, do you? Do you really know the skill, the craft, the precision that goes into tool making?"
The audience laughed, as Sir Keir showed that he can have a comedic side.
About 50 minutes in the smile was back: "The Tories. Do you remember them?"
Both jokes landed well - but they were the highlights of the speech. The rest of it was bereft of ideas - something he needs to find if he doesn’t want this conference to be his last.
There were plenty of flags on show as the Prime Minister set out his vision for a “new country”, which he called a “land of dignity and respect”.
He said he would “fight with every breath I have” for the “tolerant, decent, respectful Britain I know”.
The PM was keen to have a go at Reform, saying that Nigel Farage “doesn’t like Britain”. He also tried to talk up Labour’s successes during the past 15 months.
But with his party trailing Reform UK in the polls for a long time now, he gave no indication about how he would turn things around.
There were only a couple of policy announcements - neither of which will impact Scotland.
Despite acknowledging that economic growth is an “antidote to division”, Sir Keir failed to say how he would make the British people better off.
The veiled swipes at Gordon Brown were also strange. The Scot may have led Labour to an election loss after three wins in a row, but he was dealt a difficult hand.
Mr Brown is lauded for doing a lot of good work after the 2008 global financial crash. He bailed out Lloyds Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland - which helped stem the worst of the crash’s affects.
He also helped negotiate a $1 trillion stimulus package at the G20 in London that was hailed as “historic” by Barack Obama.
For Sir Keir to then say the UK’s response was “complacent” is disrespectful to the work that Mr Brown put in.
At the moment there is a risk Sir Keir will not even match Mr Brown’s three years as Prime Minister. He is not well-liked by the public and his government has had mistake after mistake.
You would think that he would be keen win over the public by showing that he can turn things around - but there were no signs in Liverpool.
There is a Scottish Parliament election next year that Labour doesn’t look anywhere near winning - despite romping home at the general election. If they finish behind Reform at Holyrood, Sir Keir will be in real trouble.
Voters are showing signs of being fed up of him not showing what he stands for. Again in this speech, Sir Keir spoke in big phrases with little meaning behind them.
He needs concrete policy solutions and fast. Otherwise he might not even last a full term in office.
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