Does Keir Starmer have the guts to put his essay into practice?

Keir Starmer’s long-awaited and lengthy essay on what he thinks the Labour party should be doing and saying has finally landed. It’s part of the Labour leader’s attempt to define himself this conference season, and sits alongside the noisy fight he’s picked with the left of the party and some of the trade unions over voting reform in leadership contests and policymaking. It’s just under 12,000 words, so it’s not an election pledge card or really aimed at voters at all. Perhaps that’s why it is largely painted in watercolour, rather than the primary colours Starmer will need to get the attention of the electorate.

But that’s not to say that this essay, which allies say represents the ‘intellectual underpinning’ of what he’ll say in his conference speech, isn’t worth reading. For one thing, it is beautifully written and has some acute observations about the state of Britain, including this lovely section about the difference between nationalism and patriotism:

‘Nationalists like to portray themselves as patriots.