Conference delegates and key voters want different things from Keir Starmer’s Labour

What the country needs is Clement Attlee, not Tony Benn, writes Ed Dorrell

In these incredibly challenging times for the country, the leader of the opposition has a difficult presentational path to navigate (PA)

Given the scale of the other news events taking place just now – in no particular order, the threat of nuclear war, economic armageddon, the death of the Queen – it is perhaps surprising the amount of coverage devoted to the decision to sing “God Save the King” at the Labour Party conference next week.

The move was taken by most commentators exactly in the spirit it was supposed to be – a key indicter that the Labour Party has stepped a long way away from the markedly unpatriotic Jeremy Corbyn.

It was also taken to show that Labour’s leadership is ready to engage with the quietly patriotic majority. The Times’ Hugo Rifkind, for example, wrote persuasively about how well the sight of Labour’s delegates belting out the national anthem would play with voters in the so-called blue and red walls.

This, then, will surely be on the (probably metaphorical) checklist pinned to the wall of Keir Starmer’s office titled “What will make Liverpool 2022 look like a success” – “Getting through the national anthem without the cameras panning to some lunatic leftists booing.”

What else should be on that list?

Firstly, and relatedly, will be getting through the conference without political shenanigans, mainly from the delegates, derailing the smooth procession of events. History tells us that Labour conference is only ever one motion away from meltdown (and the negative headlines that follow) – 2022 will be no different. Last year went remarkably smoothly – Team Starmer will be hoping it was not a one-off.

That first one is a baseline: the bare minimum, if you will. The Labour leadership will be after positive headlines too – and that means they have to produce at least one big policy surprise: an announcement that will whet the appetites of print and broadcast editors. To my mind, it would be pleasing if any such “reveal” went beyond the cost of living crisis and parked Labour tanks on Tory territory. Something on criminal justice or the police would be perfect.

And then there’s the issue of the drumbeat of the conference. We’re now at the stage in the electoral cycle in which a proper opposition party – one that is serious about winning elections – should have nailed down its core message.

No one in Liverpool should be in any doubt what that message is and be bored of hearing it repeated. I’m talking things like “education, education, education”, “things can only get better” and, yes, “get Brexit done”.

“A better, greener future”, which is apparently the theme of Liverpool 2022, is very obviously not the answer. It is to be hoped that something – anything! – better emerges in the next few days.

Finally, on Starmer’s metaphorical list must be Starmer himself. In these incredibly challenging times for the country, the leader of the opposition has a difficult presentational path to navigate. He will need to steer between clear-headed and energised, and angry and optimistic.

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I have written a number of times for the Independent about the way Starmer is seen by the voting public and it’s not always great. The truth is that he is never going to be Blair or Boris – he simply doesn’t have that level of charisma. But he is, evidently, decent and thoughtful and clever – and obviously on the side of ordinary people. This should be the narrative of the conference. Starmer is on your side.

The point is that this is all quite understated. It’s all quite sensible. Many delegates in the room, a fair few of whom will be missing the radicalism of Corbyn – and hoping for red meat and barnstorming speeches about nationalisation and taxing the rich until their pips squeak – will be potentially underwhelmed. But they must accept that what the country wants – and needs – is Clement Attlee, not Tony Benn.

If Starmer’s team can deliver on this, win a number of positive headlines and favourable news broadcasts then it will be job done. The time for student politics is over – the leader of the opposition now needs to look like a prime minister-in-waiting.

Ed Dorrell is a director at Public First