There was something striking about Sir Keir Starmer’s defiance of conventional wisdom. There he was addressing his party’s annual conference – the first Labour prime minister to do so in 15 years – facing growing public unease over gifts from rich donors, internal disquiet over welfare cuts, and warnings from pollsters that his chances of re-election were dwindling. Instead of an apologetic tone, the prime minister was unrepentant about his decisions. Despite a sometimes rambling and disjointed speech, he caught the audience’s mood and received numerous standing ovations. Remarkably, he didn’t yield an inch on his domestic agenda to his critics.
Sir Keir did hit some high notes – and a few bum ones. It was music to delegates’ ears in Liverpool to have a Labour prime minister promising to enact a “Hillsborough law” that required state bodies and private firms to truthfully assist public investigations; backing homes for veterans, young carers and victims of domestic abuse; and saying that students would be “touched by art” by being able to study creative subjects at school. Since 2010, the number of pupils taking arts GCSEs has dropped by 47%.
