Ready, steady and go for the shadow chancellor: Rachel Reeves took to the stage in Liverpool in sombre navy trouser suit, a stern figure with glossy helmet of hair. Her message was that Labour, the old party of tax and spend, had been reborn as bearer of a “war on waste”, “cold-blooded efficiency in public finances” and the insistence (eight times in total) of being ”ready to lead Britain.” The other word she used a lot was “I”. This is the speech of a figure who does not intend to be the number two in a Labour government. It was a pitch to govern with Keir Starmer as a duumvirate. That might get interesting down the line. But then Reeves has the safest job on the front bench.
Speech delivery is a work in progress. Someone has told her to smile a bit more and the effect is a sporadic grin, at times syncopated with the actual content, in the manner of Janet, the helpful AI humanoid in The Good Place.
