In the run-up to the 1997 General Election, Roy Jenkins famously compared an ever-cautious Tony Blair to a man “carrying a priceless Ming vase across a highly polished floor.” More than a quarter of a century on, the same line has been thrown repeatedly at Sir Keir Starmer. But today, the Labour leader appeared to hug the metaphorical porcelain and finally start to run.
Starmer set out the challenges facing not only his party but the nation. Economically and socially, Britain is operating far beneath its potential. Starmer noted that in 1997, Blair had to rebuild public services. In 1964, Harold Wilson sought to modernise the economy. In 1945, Clement Attlee introduced the welfare state from the ashes of war. Starmer believes that, in 2024, it will be his job to achieve all three.
