Compare and contrast. On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak had popped out to London’s East End to rush out his new year message. A day later, just a stone’s throw away in a university hub near the Olympic park, the Labour leader showed up to deliver his. Truly, as a nation, we are doubly blessed. Just what the country was waiting for. More words from politicians.
In substance there was little to choose between the two. Yes, the Labour leader’s speech was more coherent and better argued – not the highest of bars, as Rish!’s effort seemed to have been written in about half an hour while he was in the car – but if you were to close your eyes, at least two-thirds of the actual policy statements could have been interchangeable. Which said more about Starmer than Sunak. Keir is developing the softly, softly approach of a stealth bomber. Do and say nothing to frighten the horses. The battle is for the centre ground.
It was in tone where the differences were most striking. Sunak was at best lost in empty, nostalgic imagery and at worst defensive and defeatist. His only offer was five vague promises to try to make the UK a bit less shit. To try to undo a bit of the chaos that the Tories had created over the past 13 years. To persuade voters he wasn’t a career sociopath like his two predecessors had been. Even though he had served as chancellor to one of them. To create the impression of distance. As if he had been just as surprised by the Conservative psychodrama as we had.
Starmer was far bolder. Offering a picture of Britain that was almost hopeful. There hasn’t been much of that in recent years. Better still, he was untainted by the past. He has done the hard work of trying to detoxify the Labour brand. No one now believes that Labour is still antisemitic. No one thinks Labour is opposed to Nato.
This is a Labour that is comfortably Middle England. Not all Labour supporters will necessarily be thrilled with that, but they are having to suck it up. Starmer is bending the party to his will. The prize of an election victory is in sight. Nothing must get in the way of that. Without it, Labour are just another opposition party pissing in the wind.
Rachel Reeves – she and Starmer come as an inseparable double act these days – made the introductions. She was welcoming the next Labour prime minister. She hesitated to say next prime minister, as there was no knowing what the Tories might do to hang on to power in the next 18 months. Beware the return of Boris. Just when you think things can’t get any worse …
Then came Starmer. Without a jacket and with shirt sleeves rolled up. The ready-for- action cliches wrote themselves. He could have been Bob the Builder. And the image fitted. In the past, the Labour leader has been a somewhat awkward public speaker. At odds with the image he is trying to project. Now, though, he’s relaxed into the role. He’s never going to be dynamic and charismatic. But right now, boring and dependable is more than good enough.
He looks and sounds like a credible prime minister. He’s not asking us to view him through some rose-tinted prism. He is the real deal. We’ve seen the Tory options and the polls suggest the country has had enough. All Keir needs to do is to just look normal. And not do or say anything mad. He’s seen off Boris Johnson and Liz Truss. And he’s seen through Rish! And Starmer likes what he’s seen. Because he reckons Sunak is decidedly second rate at politics.
The message was similar to the speech he had given in Leeds back in December where he had proposed a wholesale devolution of power to cities, towns and the regions. The Tories were headless chickens. Just reacting wildly to the latest crisis to emerge. Usually of their own making. But all they had were sticking-plaster solutions. Labour would tackle the problems at their root. Though he wouldn’t commit his government to turning on the spending taps. Because that would be wrong. Not that there weren’t problems that needed cash, but he would only spend as much as was strictly necessary. However much that turned out to be would be the right amount.
Unusually, he also mentioned Brexit. Though not as an explanation of why the UK’s economy was still the worst performing in the G7. This was not a speech to indulge in inconvenient truths. Rather, it was shrewd realpolitik. Hijack “Take Back Control”, the most successful slogan of the decade, for Labour’s next election manifesto. Leave the Tories limbless. Embrace the “red wall” voters with their own message. Give people the control they want. Just don’t tell them that they could have just as easily had it all without leaving the EU.
Unsurprisingly, the media chose to ignore many of Starmer’s long-term strategic commitments and focused instead on the sticking-plaster solutions. The ones that were going to be needed to get the UK through the next three months. Like the strikes and hospital waiting lists. If the Labour leader was bothered that his 10-year plan had barely lasted 10 minutes, he didn’t let it show. Rather it was a sign that most of it must have sounded too plausible to be controversial.
On strikes, Starmer merely stated the obvious. That negotiation and compromise were required. Though even this appears to be beyond Sunak, who has backed himself into a corner where he can only wait on a miracle and hope that nurses suddenly turn round and say “you know what? Two per cent will do us nicely”. The Labour leader also observed that it would be undemocratic for the government to legislate against strike action. So the Tories surely wouldn’t do that?
They would. Yet another wrong move. A sticking plaster in the wrong place. It won’t end well. Faced with a choice, Rish! invariably makes the wrong one. Against the odds, Starmer has the Conservatives rattled. In the battle of the new year speeches, it’s 1-0 to Labour.
