Keir Starmer channeled Obama in his first Downing Street speech

In his first speech from the Downing Street lectern, Sir Keir Starmer was setting out to reaffirm those qualities that won him the election. That was a relatively low bar to clear – he just had to give the impression that he was neither a crook nor a maniac – and he cleared it with ease. Here was a solid, sensible, ostentatiously humble speech delivered with persuasive but unshowy emotion.

Starmer was punctilious about showing grace in victory. Just a few days ago, he was deriding Rishi Sunak as a selfish chancer who had enriched himself ‘betting against Britain’ in his financial career; today, he was keen to ‘pay tribute’ to the outgoing PM’s ‘dedication and hard work’, and to the ‘extra effort’ that will have gone into earning a place as the first British-Asian PM. It was an appropriate response to Sunak’s equally gracious speech of concession.