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.
Reports of a “board-level orchestrated coup” at the BBC are “complete nonsense”, non-executive director Sir Robbie Gibb has told MPs.
Sir Robbie, whose position on the BBC board has been challenged by critics in recent weeks, was among senior leaders, including the broadcaster’s chair, Samir Shah, to face questions from the Culture, Media and Sport committee about the current crisis.
The hearing took place in the wake of the fallout over the edit of a speech by US President Donald Trump, which prompted the resignation of the corporation’s director-general and the chief executive of BBC News, and the threat of a lawsuit from the US president.
Former BBC editorial adviser Michael Prescott wrote the memo that was leaked. Pic: PA
Former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, whose leaked memo sparked the recent chain of events, also answered questions from MPs – telling the hearing he felt he kept seeing “incipient problems” that were not being tackled.
He also said Mr Trump’s reputation had “probably not” been tarnished by the Panorama edit.
During his own questioning, Sir Robbie addressed concerns of potential political bias – he left BBC News in 2017 to become then prime minister Theresa May’s director of communications, a post he held until 2019, and was appointed to the BBC board in 2021 by Boris Johnson.
BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb appearing before the Culture, Media and Sport committee. Pic: PA
“I know it’s hard to marry the fact that I spent two years as director of communications for the government… and my genuine passion for impartiality,” he said.
“I want to hear the full range of views… I don’t want the BBC to be partisan or favour any particular way.”
Asked about reports and speculation that there has been a “board-level orchestrated coup”, Sir Robbie responded: “It’s up there as one of the most ridiculous charges… People had to find some angle.
“It’s complete nonsense. It’s also deeply offensive to fellow board members… people of great standing in different fields.”
He said his political work has been “weaponised” – and that it was hard as a non-executive member of the BBC to respond to criticism.
‘We should have made the decision earlier’
BBC chair Samir Shah also answered questions. Pic: PA
Mr Shah admitted the BBC was too slow in responding to the issue of the Panorama edit of Mr Trump, which had been flagged long before the leaked memo.
“Looking back, I think we should have made the decision earlier,” he said. “I think in May, as it happens.
“I think there is an issue about how quickly we respond, the speed of our response. Why do we not do it quickly enough? Why do we take so much time? And this was another illustration of that.”
Following reports of the leaked memo, it took nearly a week for the BBC to issue an apology.
Mr Shah told the committee he did not think Mr Davie needed to resign over the issue and that he “spent a great deal of time” trying to stop him from doing so.
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Asked about his own position, Mr Shah said his job now is to “steady the ship”, and that he is not someone “who walks away from a problem”.
A job advert for the BBC director-general role has since gone live on the corporation’s careers website.
Mr Shah told the hearing his view is that the role is “too big” for one person and that he is “inclined” to restructure roles at the top.
He says he believes there should also be a deputy director-general who is “laser-focused on journalism”, which is “the most important thing and our greatest vulnerability”.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr Prescott gave evidence alongside another former BBC editorial adviser, Caroline Daniel.
He told the CMS committee that there are “issues of denial” at the BBC and said “the management did not accept there was a problem” with the Panorama episode.
Mr Prescott’s memo highlighted concerns about the way clips of Mr Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 were spliced together so it appeared he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
‘I can’t think of anything I agree with Trump on’
Mr Trump has said he is going to pursue a lawsuit of between $1bn and $5bn against the broadcaster, despite receiving an official public apology.
Asked if the documentary had harmed Mr Trump’s image, Mr Prescott responded: “I should probably restrain myself a little bit, given that there is a potential legal action.
“All I could say is, I can’t think of anything I agree with Donald Trump on.”
He was later pushed on the subject, and asked again if he agreed that the programme tarnished the president’s reputation, to which he then replied: “Probably not.”
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Mr Prescott, a former journalist, also told the committee he did not know how his memo was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.
“At the most fundamental level, I wrote that memo, let me be clear, because I am a strong supporter of the BBC.
“The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC.
He said he “never envisaged” the fallout that would occur. “I was hoping the concerns I had could, and would, be addressed privately in the first instance.”
Asked if he thinks the BBC is institutionally biased, he said: “No, I don’t.”
He said that “tonnes” of the BBC’s work is “world class” – but added that there is “real work that needs to be done” to deal with problems.
Mr Davie, he said, did a “first-rate job” as director-general but had a “blind spot” toward editorial failings.
Police have appealed for information after a man was charged with murdering two women and raping a third.
Simon Levy has been charged with murdering 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo who died on the Aylesbury Estate, south-east London, on 17 March, the Metropolitan Police said.
In September, Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, was charged with murdering 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins who was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August.
He is also accused of grievous bodily harm with intent, non-fatal strangulation and two counts of rape against a third woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in Haringey, north London, on 21 January, police said.
The 40-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with Ms Valencia-Trujillo’s murder.
Sheryl Wilkins was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August. Pic: Metropolitan Police
He is also due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday for a plea and trial preparation hearing for the murder of Ms Wilkins.
Detectives believe there may be individuals who have information relevant to this investigation – or who are yet to report incidents which have directly impacted them – and are asking for people to come forward.
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