Has Starmer found his sparkle? Our writers’ verdicts on his speech
Starmer #Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer’s quiff sparkled as he spoke, with glitter thrown by a garbled protester. His voice rose and fell, not always at quite the right moments, but close enough. His message resonated. The Labour leader identified the malaise hanging over the country, the sense of decline, missed opportunities and mounting costs, and tried to offer a sense of optimism.
Optimism, one sensed, does not come naturally to him, but he did his best. He sounded like a man who, if he didn’t quite yet have a fully developed plan to vanquish them, has at least understood the country’s problems.
The vision he offered is essentially one the Tories claimed to be offering in 2019, which won them a large majority: a promise to build