Starmer speech should have been joyous victory lap but PM is already stumbling – and there is fury among backroom staff
Eighty days into government after a landslide election win, Sir Keir Starmer came to Liverpool as the first Labour prime minister in 15 years to address conference.
It should have been a joyous victory lap, but instead this is a PM already stumbling, wrong-footed by a row over the amount of freebies he took as leader of the opposition, and dysfunction in Number 10.
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A year ago in the very same conference hall, Sir Keir was being cheered on stage almost like a rock star, with staffers nearly in tears as their leader made his pitch to become prime minister.
And while the reception was still very warm as he delivered his speech on Tuesday, the country is fast cooling on their new leader.
The hope – and hunger – on display at last year’s conference when Labour were on the cusp of power, and Sir Keir was riding high in the polls, has given way to the hard reality of governing.
New polling by Opinium reveals that the prime minister’s approval rating has dropped 45 points to -26 since he became the country’s leader. It now makes him – by a point – less popular than his predecessor Rishi Sunak.
Meanwhile, the row over the prime minister taking free clothes, holidays and tickets to football matches and concerts has also cut through, with two-thirds of people in a recent YouGov poll saying it was wrong to do it.
So his task at conference was to try to get his “mission-led” government back on track and try to convey the purpose of the short-term pain he is warning us all about.
It was a speech of three parts.
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Starmer: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’
The first was to convey the “change begins” message by running through some of the measures his new government have put in train – from setting up a new border security command to beginning planning reforms or launching Great British Energy to invest in renewable power.
The second was to “fix the foundations” as he explained the “tough decisions” he was making, and acknowledging the decision to cut winter fuel allowance had driven concern. His message was consistent to that in the election and immediate aftermath – change will take time and “it will be hard”.
The third element was to try to inject some sense of where the country could end up.
He told the audience: “The truth is that if we take long-term decisions now, if we stick to the driving purpose behind everything we do – higher economic growth, so living standards rise in every community; our NHS facing the future – waiting lists at your hospital down; safer streets in your community; stronger borders; more opportunities for your children; clean British energy power in your home – then that light at the end of this tunnel, that Britain belongs to you, we get there much more quickly.”
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This was another Starmer speech brimming with rhetoric around “national renewal” and a government “in the service of working people”. But for his massive majority, the announcements in this speech were modest.
When this government says “change begins”, the word “begins” is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Insiders tell me that the inheritance from the Conservatives was much worse than they thought, the chancellor is finding her job much more difficult than she expected, and improvements to public services will be coming at the end of the parliament.
But while the public might have sympathy for that, where the leadership seems to be falling down is on the culture change that Sir Keir promised when he was leader of the opposition.
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‘Describe Starmer’s speech in one word?’
His was to be a government of service. He was going to restore trust in politics. He was going to heal the “wounds of trust” between voters and those who govern.
On this, Starmer has struggled, as the message discipline and slickness of the leadership campaign gives way to infighting and rows over freebies.
Away from the podium speeches and around the fringes of this conference, in a late night bar or over a quiet coffee, the mood is defensive and a little deflated.
There is private admission from senior ministers and staffers that the PM has got into a mess over the “free gear Keir” row.
Two figures tell me that it should have been shut down earlier and more emphatically, instead of running over the weekend into conference.
“We should have killed it off, it looks bad,” said one senior government figure.
Another expressed frustration that the government had gone off message and Downing Street didn’t clean it up quickly enough, with the headlines over donations kick starting the conference, adding: “We need to get back to the missions.”
One figure told me Starmer had been “upset” by all of it, particularly as it has brought his wife Victoria into the spotlight.
You can only imagine the frustration he must privately be feeling as he comes into the first conference in 15 years where Labour are in power on the backfoot, with his ratings falling and public opprobrium just weeks after delivering a landslide.
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PM needs to ‘lift’ conference
There is also unhappiness around the Number 10 leaks. On the side-lines, political operatives are whispering about the fury felt among many of the backroom special advisers who are seeing their pay cut as they move into government, while Sue Gray’s pay rise puts her on more than the prime minister.
“The advisers hate Sue Gray,” is how one figure put it.
It is a huge frustration to Starmer, who I am told highly values her advice.
Cabinet ministers also speak highly of Ms Gray in private. One told me: “On the machinery of government, she’s really helpful linking up different departments and cabinet ministers and helping us work out how it is done.”
Those who know the PM well say that Ms Gray is not going anywhere, and that the task after this conference will be to get the barnacles off the boat and focus relentlessly again on the missions.
Sir Keir wanted to lift voters’ eyes back to the horizon and “the light at the end of the tunnel” in his first conference as prime minister.
But instead he is personally weighed down by his promise to do things differently and his decision to take over £107,000 in freebies in the last parliament.
It’s hard to sell a message of “change begins” when there are questions about whether your actions match your words.
Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.
Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.
Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.
Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.
Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.
“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.
The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.
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Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.
Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
UK
Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch to be crowned Tory leader today – but whoever wins contest faces daunting task
The next leader of the Conservative party will be announced today, following a run-off between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.
The winner will replace Rishi Sunak as the leader of the opposition, after he led the party to a crushing election defeat in July, losing almost two thirds of its MPs.
His successor faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Tory party after years of division, scandal and economic turbulence, which saw Labour eject them from power by a landslide.
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Voting by tens of thousands of party members, who need to have joined at least 90 days ago, closed on Thursday. Both candidates have claimed the result will be close.
The Conservatives do not disclose how many members the party has, but the figure was about 172,000 in 2022, and research suggests they are disproportionately affluent, older white men.
Both candidates are seen as on the party’s right wing. Kemi Badenoch, 44, is the former trade secretary, who was born in London to middle-class Nigerian parents but spent most of her childhood in Lagos.
After moving back to the UK aged 16, she stayed with a family friend while taking her A-levels, and has spoken of her time working at McDonald’s as a teenager.
Having studied computer science at Sussex University, she then worked as a software engineer before entering London politics and becoming MP for Saffron Walden in Essex in 2017.
Ms Badenoch prides herself on being outspoken and has said the Conservatives lost because they “talked right and governed left”. But her critics paint her as abrasive and prone to misspeaking.
At the Conservative Party conference, a crucial staging post in the contest, she began her speech which followed three other male candidates by saying: “Nice speeches, boys, but I think you all know I’m the one everyone’s been waiting for.”
Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch. Pics: PA
Her rival Robert Jenrick, 42, has been on a political journey. Elected as a Cameroon Conservative in 2014, he was one of the rising star ministers who swung behind Boris Johnson as prime minister and was later a vocal supporter of Rishi Sunak.
But he resigned as immigration minister in December 2023, claiming Sunak’s government was breaking its promises to cut immigration.
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The MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire says he had a “working-class” upbringing in Wolverhampton. He read history at Cambridge University and worked at Christie’s auctioneers before winning a by-election.
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October: Jenrick v Badenoch for Tory leadership
After a long ministerial career where he was seen as mild-mannered, he is said to have been “radicalised” by his time at the Home Office and has focused his campaign on a promise to slash immigration and leave the European Convention on Human Rights to “stand for our nation and our culture, our identity and our way of life”.
He has put forward more policies than his rival, but attracted criticism for some of his claims – including that Britain’s former colonies owe the Empire a “debt of gratitude”.
A survey of party members by the website Conservative Home last week put Kemi Badenoch in the lead by 55 points to Mr Jenrick’s 31 with polls still open.
James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary and seen as a more centrist candidate was knocked out of the race last month. One of his supporters, the Conservative peer and former Scotland leader Ruth Davidson, has predicted neither Mr Jenrick nor Ms Badenoch will stay as leader until the next general election.
She told the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “I’ve now voted for Robert Jenrick, who I don’t think will win. I struggle to believe that the person that’s the next leader of the Tory party is going to take us into the next election in five years’ time and I struggle to believe that they’re going to leave the leadership at a time of their own choosing.”
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‘All candidates should get job in shadow cabinet’
Henry Hill, deputy editor of ConHome, said the contest which Tory officials decided would take almost three months, has not led to enough scrutiny – because the MP rounds of voting took so long.
“We know much less [about them] than I think we should”, he said. “The problem with this contest is the party decided to go really long, but at the same time, they confined the membership vote – with just the final two – to just three weeks, and ballots dropped halfway through that process.
“We had months and months with loads of candidates in the race, but also that was the MP rounds and you’d think the MPs will have a chance to get to know these people already. For the actual choice the members are going to be making, there has been barely any time to scrutinise that.
He added: “I think the party remembers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak taking weeks to take lumps out of each other in 2022 and wanted to avoid that. But it means the two campaigns haven’t really been attacking each other and that tends to be how you expose people’s weaknesses.”
(L-R) Ms Badenoch, Mr Jenrick, and previous leadership rivals James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat at the Conservative Party conference. Pic: PA
After 14 years in government under five prime ministers, it is not since David Cameron in 2005 that the party has elected a leader to go into opposition – with a long road until the next general election.
Veteran ex-MP Graham Brady, who served as chair of the backbench 1922 committee, told Sky News that the position was more hopeful than after the 1997 landslide.
He said: “The biggest challenge for a leader of the opposition in these circumstances is just to be heard, to be noticed. I came into the House of Commons in 1997 at the time of that huge Blair landslide.
“We worked very, very hard in opposition during that parliament, and at the next general election [in 2001], we made a net gain of one seat.
“Now, there is a huge difference between now and 1997. The Blair government remained very popular and Tony Blair personally remained very popular through that whole parliament and beyond. And in 100 days or so, Keir Starmer has already fallen way behind.
“So I think we’ve got a great opportunity. I don’t think we’re up against an insuperable challenge, but it’s a big challenge.”
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Grant Shapps’ warning for next Tory leader
Kate Fall, now Baroness Fall, worked with Lord Cameron in opposition and later in Downing Street when he was prime minister in the coalition government. She said the next leader needed to keep the party “united and disciplined”.
“The first thing is to think about why we lost. The second thing is what do we have to say? Then they need to be agile, they need to be reactive, but pick their fight, not fight over everything. They also need to get out and about,” she said.
Lord Cameron travelled around the country holding question and answer sessions called Cameron Direct. “When you’re prime minister, you can’t do that as much as you like. But as leader of the opposition you can get out, talk to people, we thought it was very trendy to have a podcast and so on.”
She says this week’s budget gives the next leader “an ideological divide” to get into, but warns that the next leader must not risk alienating former Tories who switched to Labour and the Lib Dems.
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The leader of the opposition will cut their teeth at weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions opposite Sir Keir Starmer and respond to set piece events such as the budget.
They will need to get the party’s campaign machine ready for the local elections in England in May 2025, Scottish elections in 2026 and the next general election expected in 2029.
The NHS has begun trialling a new iPhone adapter which can check whether someone has throat cancer.
It is hoped the device will allow thousands of patients to be given the all-clear from the disease within hours – rather than days or weeks – as well as helping to detect cases early.
People suspected of having throat cancer are usually given an endoscopy, which involves a long, thin tube with a camera inside being passed through their mouth or nose to look inside their body.
The endoscope-i adapter, which can be attached to one of Apple’s smart phones, includes a 32mm lens endoscope eyepiece and an accompanying app.
It allows nurses to capture endoscopy footage in high definition before sharing it with specialists who can report back to patients directly.
The NHS said an initial pilot by the North Midlands University Hospitals NHS Trust had helped reassure more than 1,800 low-risk patients that they did not have throat cancer, with those tested receiving their results “within 23 hours”.
The gadget also helped detect cancer in around one in a hundred of those tested.
Officials said no cancers were missed during the trial.
A spokesperson said it could be used more widely across the country “in diagnostic centres and community settings”, reducing the need for patients to go to hospitals, freeing up resources and reducing waiting times.
Results from the device can be sent to a patient within hours – rather than weeks. Pic: PA
Dr Cally Palmer, national cancer director at NHS England, said: “Detecting cancer early is key to providing treatment as soon as possible to help give patients the best chance of survival.
“For those needing tests to investigate suspected cancer, it can be an extremely worrying time and being able to rule out the disease sooner can make a huge difference for people and their families.”
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There are around 250,000 urgent referrals for suspected head and neck cancer each year, according to NHS England.
However, only 5% of these are diagnosed with the disease.
Janet Hennessy, 76, from Stoke-on-Trent, said she thought the device was “absolutely brilliant” after she took part in the trial.
She added: “When you have a procedure done and you’ve got to go back home and wait two or three weeks, even if you think there’s nothing there, you’re still thinking about it and it worries you and your family.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Jones, 31, was diagnosed using the gadget after being referred to Royal Stoke Hospital by his GP.
He said: “I remember being confused at the time due to my only symptom being a hoarse voice. It was like I had been singing too much at a gig the night before.”
Mr Jones said it was a “massive shock” to be informed he had cancer but was reassured by medics. He had his voicebox removed to prevent the disease from spreading further.
He added: “I’m scared to even think where I’d be or what could have happened without this device.
“With how fast that my cancer developed after the first appointment to the stage where I needed a big laryngectomy surgery it makes me so grateful that it was picked up and in time and I believe that has saved my life.”
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