Starmer's speech

Following my previous blog post, in which I cast doubt on Starmer's strategy of silence, especially on Brexit, his speech A New Chapter for Britain was a further opportunity to evaluate his development as party leader.

While the speech garnered some favourable criticism for the announcement of a Covid recovery bond, it largely disappeared without trace. Many will be unaware of its existence. One reason for this can certainly be put down to a hostile media. However, another reason was that, to be blunt, it was dull. The problem was in the writing. Marlon Brando would have struggled to deliver it.

Normally, in any well-constructed argument, the central thesis is prepared for at the top. Expectation is nurtured and the payoffs are plotted. So it was something of a surprise for this line to appear more than halfway down.

And that puts tackling the climate emergency at the centre of everything we do.

If tackling the climate emergency really is at the centre of Labour policy, what on earth was it doing floating around on its own sentence so far from the introduction? This was the chance to express the "big idea" Labour is so desperately lacking. Given Starmer's expertise in building legal cases, the shape of this speech is inexplicable. Handsforth Parish Council could have done a better job. Does he not have the confidence to build a vision? Tackling the climate emergency is a powerful rallying cry. Why not use it as the organising principle for Labour policy? Put it at the top.

We have to wait even longer to hear Starmer's personal vision of the future. The vision that will mark him out as a leader.

My dad worked on the factory floor his entire life. A steady, secure job allowed him to build a better life for his family. That’s why, when I think about business I see a source of pride, dignity and prosperity. And I know there’s no vision of a future where Britain fulfils its potential in which business does not thrive.

That’s why, if I was Prime Minister, I’d back a new generation of British entrepreneurs.

This is so weak. His father having had a "steady, secure" job somehow leads him to back a "new generation of British entrepreneurs". There is nothing wrong with backing British entrepreneurs, but where is the connection between the elements he mentions? They seem to have been shoehorned in from a spreadsheet: dad; family; working class values; business. This was Starmer telling you why he should be the next prime minister. Does he really want to be? Why did he not tell us about himself (instead of his dad) in a way that let us know something about what he believes in?

Finally, his portrayal of the party he must defeat was, to put it mildly, restrained. Here is an example:

I’ve said a lot about the incompetence of the government in handling the pandemic and I make no apology for that.

They’ve been slow at every stage. They’ve ignored advice. They haven’t learnt from their mistakes.

The Tories must be reeling from that onslaught. He does not mention a single one of them. He threw away the chance to link Johnson personally to the Covid disaster and, perhaps even more disappointingly, to the mishandling of Brexit. And surely he could have found stronger terms than "slow", "ignored" and "haven't learnt"? They are cop-outs.

By way of comparison, here is a speech by Tony Blair. We are only considering the writing, not the politician.

I ask you, this Tory government - has there ever been a government in this country’s history that has put itself before the British people with less to merit its re-election than this one? Just mouth the words ‘five more Tory years’ and you feel your senses and reason repulsed by what they have done to our country.

He goes on to mention several Tories in disparaging terms.

My intention here is to prove that better speeches are possible and are absolutely necessary to win support. A clear vision is essential. The fact that Starmer's speech was poorly written is not concerning in terms of any damage it may have done, it was largely ignored. But it is very concerning in terms of the processes that led to it being so poor and what it says about how policy is being developed.

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