Starmer brushes off the glitter to make coherent case for a Labour government

Starmer’s speech was about his messaging: that Labour understands the concerns of voters, is here to serve them, and solve Britain’s problems. Photograph: Joel Goodman/The Guardian

Keir Starmer would not have wanted a rogue protester to cover him in glitter as he stood up to give his crucial conference speech.

But the overall image of a Labour leader sparkling from the stage for an hour ended up doing him no harm. Jacket off and sleeves rolled up, Starmer recovered immediately and made the incident into a virtue, with huge applause from the hall. “This is why we changed our party. Power, not protests,” he quipped.