Standing ovation as Keir Starmer takes to the stage
Here we go...
Here we go...
“Prime minister- Either get a grip or get out of the way and let us step up and get on with it.”
“This is our first full conference since 2019 general election...I want to say loud and clear to our loyal voters and activist, you saved this party from obliteration and we will never forget it- thank you.”
“But my job as leader is not just to say thank you to those who stayed with us but to persuade people who rejected us.“
Pre-prepped anti heckle line: “This time on a Wednesday it’s normally the Tories who are heckling me. Doesn’t bother me.”
Starmer: “My Dad was a tool maker. Though in a way, so was Boris Johnson’s.”
Starmer said there are two poles to his life: family and work.
Starmer starts talking about dignity of work. Is heckled: “£15!”
Haven’t seen something like this in the modern era.
Haven’t seen something like this in the modern era.
“My Mum worked incredibly hard too- as a nurse in the NHS. I got from my mum an ethic of service- but my Mum was a long term patient. When she was young she was diagnosed with Still’s disease...this took a very heavy toll. The NHS which was her livelihood became her lifeline.”
More heckling even as Starmer is talking about NHS nurses and his Mum’s experience with Still’s disease.
Yet more heckling.
Starmer: “shouting slogans? Or changing lives, conference?”
Applause.
Starmer: “shouting slogans? Or changing lives, conference?”
Applause.
Now a series of activists have got up and holding up a red card to Starmer.
They’re not desisting.
As I say, we haven’t seen anything like this for years, a leader repeatedly attacked from the floor.
They’re not desisting.
As I say, we haven’t seen anything like this for years, a leader repeatedly attacked from the floor.
I suspect little of this is coming across on TV as will be inaudible, which is what his team will care about.
Starmer on his approach to politics as his approach at CPS: “Down to Earth, working out what’s wrong, fixing it.”
Starmer now talking about his time at CPS.
Starmer: “Under my leadership the fight against crime will always be a *Labour* issue.”
“Labour will strengthen legal protections for the victims of crime. We won’t walk around the problem- we’ll fix it.”
Says Labour will fasttrack prosecution of rape and serious crime cases and toughen sentences on rapists, stalkers and domestic abusers.
Says Labour will fasttrack prosecution of rape and serious crime cases and toughen sentences on rapists, stalkers and domestic abusers.
“Today I’m here to tell you what I stand for but also what I won’t stand for.
I won’t stand for 2 million incidents of anti social behaviour, for record levels of knife crime and I won’t stand for 9 out of 10 crimes going unsolved.”
I won’t stand for 2 million incidents of anti social behaviour, for record levels of knife crime and I won’t stand for 9 out of 10 crimes going unsolved.”
Starmer: “I try and remain calm in bearpit of parliamentary politics...I’m not a career politician.
But one thing about Boris Johnson which offends everything I stand for is his assumption that the rules don’t apply to him.”
But one thing about Boris Johnson which offends everything I stand for is his assumption that the rules don’t apply to him.”
Starmer: “ When Dominic Cummings took a trip to Barnard Castle to test his eyesight, Boris Johnson turned a blind eye. When Matt Hancock breached his own lockdown rules, Boris Johnson declared the matter closed...”
“...When I got pinged, I isolated. When Boris Johnson got pinged, he tried to ignore it. That’s not how I do business.”
Starmer has once again “put the government on notice.”
Starmer: “Politics has to be clean; wrongdoing has to be punished. There are times when I feel as if I have my old job back.
Contracts handed out to friends and donors. The former PM lobbying the Chancellor by text. Refurbishing No 10 with a loan from an anonymous donor.”
Contracts handed out to friends and donors. The former PM lobbying the Chancellor by text. Refurbishing No 10 with a loan from an anonymous donor.”
Now heckles of “Free Julian Assange!”
Starmer: “it’s easy to comfort yourself with the thought your opponents are bad people. I don’t think Boris Johnson is a bad person. I think he’s a trivial person.”
Now a loud heckle of “Where’s Peter Mandelson?!”
“From my dad, I understand the dignity of work. From my mum, I appreciate the nobility of care. From my work, the principle that we are all equal before the law.”
Key element of the speech is to emphasise his seriousness vs PM’s. One of the more solid bits of the speech partly because you get the sense Starmer feels it most strongly.
“NHS waiting lists at the highest level on record. 5.5m people are waiting for treatment. The great scandal of the pandemic was what happened in care homes. And let me tell you this, an unfair tax hike that doesn’t fix social care and doesn’t clear the NHS backlog, is not a plan”
“A plan would prevent problems before they bite. A plan would provide care at home, where people are. A plan would ensure the work force was properly valued. And a serious plan wouldn’t be funded by hammering working people.”
Starmer says mental health services are a priority for Labour. Says the party will guarantee patients are seen within a month. “Under Labour, spending on mental health will never be allowed to fall.”
Starmer now turns to education. Part of a tour of the public services. Speech entrenched in bread and butter issues.
We’ve still got a fair way to go btw, hope you’re sitting comfortably at home.
I’m not 
Starmer picking up theme from his essay (quite Croslandite) on cultural education for kids: “That's why it's stupid to allow theatre, drama and music to collapse in state schools.
We want every child to get the chance to play competitive sport and play an instrument.”
We want every child to get the chance to play competitive sport and play an instrument.”
Having channeled more than a bit of Blair we’re onto the White Heat.
Starmer: “what is the small Tory idea to respond to this change? They want to reintroduce Latin in state schools.
So let me put this crisis in the only language that Boris Johnson will understand. Carpe Diem- seize the day.”
So let me put this crisis in the only language that Boris Johnson will understand. Carpe Diem- seize the day.”
The speech is long, so much so the hecklers seem to have run out of heckles.
I spoke too soon. We’re back to “£15 an hour!”
More white heat. Says a Labour government will spend 3% of GDP on R&D.
Now from Wilson to early Blair: “Talk is cheap but progress isn’t. And if we want the permission to create the good society we have to win trust that we will create a strong economy.”
Starmer mentions the B word: “A botched Brexit followed by Covid has left a big hole. The government is learning that it is not enough to Get Brexit Done. You need a plan to Make Brexit Work.”
We’re now onto climate change
“This is a question of security. It is a test of justice at a global scale. Climate change poses an existential threat. Time is short and we have a duty to act. But the obligation shouldn't daunt us. It should embolden us...”
“This is a question of security. It is a test of justice at a global scale. Climate change poses an existential threat. Time is short and we have a duty to act. But the obligation shouldn't daunt us. It should embolden us...”
“Shifting the economy onto a sustainable path is full of promise for Britain.”
Starmer recommits Labour to bringing forward “a green new deal.”
Danger for Starmer is that the write up might have been quite a bit better if the speech had ended 20 mins ago as opposed to about 10 mins time.
Starmer says the party will introduce a clean air act.
Says everything Labour would do in government would have to meet a Net zero test.
Starmer: “let me offer the Conservative party a lesson in levelling up. If they want to know how to do it, I suggest they take a look at our record the last time we were in government.”
Starmer on New Labour’s achievements: “hospital waits down, GCSE results up, 44000 more doctors, 89000 new nurses, child poverty down 1 million, pensioner pov down 1 million, rough sleepers down 75%, Min Wage, OECD said no nation had bigger rise in social mobility than Britain.”
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1443188184922394629
After Wilson, Blair this felt quite Brown 2009.
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1443188957924179971
Now we’re onto Scotland
Starmer: “Scotland is in the unfortunate position of having two bad governments - the Tories at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood.”
Starmer: “Scotland is in the unfortunate position of having two bad governments - the Tories at Westminster and the SNP at Holyrood.”
Starmer: “Labour is the party of the Union... We are more secure together. We are a bigger presence in the world together. We are greater as Britain than we would be apart.”
Starmer on @MarcusRashford: “I couldn’t believe it when Rashford and the England team took the knee to highlight and condemn the racism they have had to endure, the Home Secretary encouraged people to boo.
Well, here in this conference hall we are patriots.”
Well, here in this conference hall we are patriots.”
“When we discuss the fine young men and women who represent all our nations we don’t boo. We get to our feet and cheer.”
We’re 87 mins in.
Heckle no.318
Starmer: “In a way the more we expose the inadequacy of this government the more it presses the question back on us. If they are so bad, what does it say about us? Because after all in 2019 we lost to them, and we lost badly. I know that hurts each and every one of you.”
Now echoes of Kinnock: “imagine waking up the morning after the next election in the knowledge that you could start to write the next chapter in our nation’s history, bending it towards the values that bring us, year after year to this conference hall to seek a better way.”
We’re on the home stretch, folks.
“Work.
Care.
Equality,
Security.
These are the tools of my trade.
And with them I will go to work.”
That’s it. The speech is over.
Loud applause. Any heckles drowned out.
Care.
Equality,
Security.
These are the tools of my trade.
And with them I will go to work.”
That’s it. The speech is over.
Loud applause. Any heckles drowned out.
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