Sir Keir Starmer’s conference speech in Liverpool was his first as leader to be aimed squarely at voters rather than party delegates. He has spent much of the last two years ruthlessly tightening his grip over the party machine. This week he sealed his victory over his internal opponents by draping the union jack over the stage and getting his party to sing the national anthem. Sir Keir’s actions were not a repudiation of the party’s internationalism, but an embrace of the nation so it can be recast in a “fairer, greener” way.
He did take a swipe at his leftwing critics, saying Labour now put “country first, party second”. But he trained his guns on the Tories, accusing them of putting self-interest before nation. He argued that Britain does not have to be, as the Tories have made it, a deeply unequal country with a state that cannot provide basic services. The government’s economic ineptitude risks higher inflation and skyrocketing interest rates. Sir Keir spoke of a woman telling him: “I don’t just want to survive; I want to live” – words that will resonate with many voters who feel they have worked hard but got nothing in return.
Labour’s welcome message was that the government remains an indispensable actor in putting things right. Sir Keir’s analysis is that who controls the national economy, and to what end, is important. Like another Labour leader – Harold Wilson – campaigning almost 60 years ago to win power after a decade in the wilderness, Sir Keir pledged to reforge the country. Whereas Wilson used the “white heat” of the scientific revolution, today Labour wants Britain to become a “green growth superpower”. At the heart of the plan is a state-owned company, “Great British Energy”, that would create 1m new jobs. His refreshing argument, honed by his colleague Ed Miliband, is that the state can deploy renewable energy quicker – and capture more of its benefits – than if the job was left to foreign state-owned entities and private equity actors.
Sir Keir wrapped his politics in the flag for a reason: to call out private interests that the Tories have favoured, but which undermine national community. Labour has set a target of raising homeownership to 70% with “a new set of political choices” that would stop landlords and land speculators gobbling up new housing stock. Sir Keir touched on inequality, highlighting the role the City plays by racing ahead while “the rest of the country stagnates”. The Labour leader is no populist, but in emphasising the nation he foregrounds a politics of the many against the few.
There is a danger that Labour falls into the trap of reactionary nationalism. While putting the idea of Britain at the centre of politics might appeal to voters – especially older ones – in England, it has less pull in Scotland. Sir Keir needs a constitutional answer to this conundrum; but his speech did not offer one. Leaving the EU was an act of self-harm but he thinks there’s no way back. Brexiters dress up pro-globalisation policies in nationalist clothes. The Labour leader plainly feels he has little choice but to offer a Labour Brexit – of better work, higher wages, and a modern NHS – as an alternative to the Tory one.
Given the interventions by the state since the pandemic, one might have hoped he would restore public services at least to their pre-2010 forms. Unfortunately for Britain, the Labour leader said his “sound finance” plans meant he could not fix the failures of a decade any time soon. Labour, it seems, can’t just be the party of the larger state. It has to be the party of a different state. Sir Keir is starting to stand for something. Some would like him to be bolder. But his speech was good news for the country in one important way: Sir Keir has a better grip on the present than those he seeks to replace.
