Labour’s Liverpool conference isn’t a Westminster politics pit stop. It’s not an interruption or a roadside caff for leftish passers-by. This is the ultimate audience. This is the big opportunity. How Keir Starmer performs on the banks of the Mersey in front of his home crowd will define the rest of his year.
And yes, we need a better story this autumn. After mistakes, we need a harder political edge. The polling is bad. Unforced errors have led to rotten headlines, and too many small, negative pictures mean few people now notice the big picture. The pensioners’ fuel allowance cut and stories about big-money influence have hurt and upset many of Starmer’s natural friends.
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