No iron law of politics says a government cannot recover from a bad early stumble. So don’t write Keir Starmer off too quickly because of the long game he insists on playing or the freebies he took. But don’t kid yourself that his government is not wounded either. Because, after only three months in power, it has already felt a brush with mortality.
The Labour conference in Liverpool has made little difference to this. Party conferences can seem absorbing when you are present. But their wider importance is overstated. The same goes for leaders’ speeches. Most people living outside the bubble barely notice them, and they didn’t care that much in the first place anyway.
