Keir Starmer is attacking a Tory party that no longer exists

There has been a bit of a commentariat pile-on against Starmer in the last couple of weeks; not just from the usual suspects but from centrist types who might normally be supportive of the Labour leader. Given that as background, one would have hoped that Keir Starmer would have used his speech today on a ‘New Chapter for Britain’ to launch something of a comeback.

Unfortunately, the speech didn’t really work as I think it was intended. On the whole, it felt a little like something the Labour leader had been chivvied into delivering due to recent negative press, as opposed to a set of ideas that had ripened enough for public consumption. Basically, there just wasn’t enough substance in it to warrant a whole set-piece event.

Of course, any Labour leader has to throw his party’s activists some red meat. Blair was actually particularly good at doing this – finding the right attacks on the Tories, promising large spending here and there.