Breaking the strict no-complacency rule that was supposed to be in force at the Labour conference, a member of the shadow cabinet said to me: “In his head, Keir can picture himself walking into Number 10.”
At no other time since Labour was removed from office in 2010 has it looked more like a party that is hungry to be in government, believes it can win, and is thinking seriously about what it would do with power. An organisation that was in thrall to Jeremy Corbyn and his unmerry comrades not so long ago has been thoroughly Starmerised. “The party has really changed. They want to win,” remarked a different member of the shadow cabinet at the conclusion of the gathering in Liverpool. Devotees of the last leader were extremely thin on the ground and the conference hall was filled with people much more aligned with the ideas and values of the current management. Angela Rayner led a minute’s silence in remembrance of the victims of the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas in Israel. They applauded when the shadow chancellor heralded “economic credibility” and “fiscal responsibility” and ovated for a leader’s speech which accompanied the promise of “a decade of national renewal” with the warning that it will be a long, hard slog. They put their hands together for Wes Streeting after he’d told them that the NHS, most revered of all Labour’s household gods, needs “fundamental and deep” reform.
