All that was missing was the dry ice. Long before Keir Starmer was due to give his leader’s speech the conference hall was rammed – even the standing room was oversubscribed. Keir could have sold out the arena two or three times over. Not so long ago, Labour had to beg its supporters to fill the seats. The vibe was almost rock’n’roll. But this was no mere entertainment. This was deadly serious.
In the audience, bets were being placed on who might be called upon to introduce Starmer. Some thought we might get a video message from Barack Obama. Bono, possibly. An endorsement from Rupert Murdoch would also have gone down a storm. Sealed the next election. Best of all would have been Rishi Sunak himself. There’s nothing more guaranteed to get the Labour vote out than an appearance from the prime minister – the more the country sees of him, the less they like him. Just one more push for “What this county needs is a change of direction”.
