‘Ready to govern’: Starmer’s conference address commended by Labour – and even one Tory MP
Sir Keir Starmer’s speech was described as “rousing” and “inspiring” by Labour conference-goers who crammed into a packed hall for his keynote address in Liverpool.
Reflecting an increasingly confident party, which has begun claiming endorsements from figures including former Bank of England governor Mark Carney and pop star Will Young, one conference attendee claimed Labour was “ready to govern” and Starmer was “the next prime minister”. Others lauded his focus on the NHS, energy and the net zero message to businesses.
As attendees poured out of the hall following the 2pm address, party delegate Adam told Morning Wire: “It was absolutely rousing. For the first time since I was 17 – I’m 30 now – I grew up, my young adulthood, through a Tory government.
“For the first time I’m feeling genuinely hopeful, like we have a vision. A united cause and we’re actually going somewhere positive. I’m very happy.”
Fellow conference-goer Alex added: “I thought it was excellent, really inspiring about how we’re going to build a new Britain.
“He was speaking to the country about all the things that matter to them: the NHS, police on the streets, growing the economy, fixing the cost of living crisis.”
And attendee Dominic said: “We’re ready to govern – Keir Starmer is ready to be Prime Minister.”
Weighing in via Twitter was Conservative MP Simon Clarke, who appeared to broadly agree with Starmer’s stance on the green belt which he said was “not all beautiful verdant land”.
“My party needs to respond to this challenge,” he wrote.
Others, naturally, were somewhat pickier, with Starmer having more appeal to the so-called Blairites on the right of the party, than the harder-left wing.
“There were parts I liked, I liked the stuff about energy, and it was interesting there was no mention of our relationship with Europe,” party member Mark commented.
But he added: “There were parts I disagreed with. I think we need to be bolder about financing the NHS, not just the money from non-doms, there’s plenty of wealth in the country that should be used.
“I’m always wary when people talk about reform, do they mean bringing more of the private sector into the NHS?”
And international visitor, Nana Yaa Jantuah, general secretary of Ghana’s Convention People’s Party, praised how Labour were “concerned about the working class” and said the speech “brought a lot of hope to the people of Britain”.
But she suggested: “I thought there should have been some more, I don’t want to say fire, but it should have ignited more.
“Something was missing that I couldn’t put my finger on but overall it was a good speech.”
She added: “What I liked was when he criticised he did not criticise just for nothing, he gave solutions. Whatever the Tories were doing wrong the Labour Party was going to do right.”
But, in music to Starmer’s ears – after his pledge to “hold out the hand of partnership to business” – electric vehicle salesman Matt lauded Labour’s approach to net zero.
“I liked the way he made the link, I’m particularly interested in the net zero thing particularly given last week and to see what his level of commitment was to that,” he said.
“He wove in a good news story that it’s not a binary choice between the cost of living and climate.
“Net zero creates jobs and reduces costs to people in the long run so I liked that element… he mixed it well with cost of living and attacks on the Conservatives which are necessary.”