Analysis: Keir Starmer Struggles To Lift The Mood As Labour Voters Lose Faith

Keir Starmer is about to fly off to New York, fresh from receiving a lengthy standing ovation at the end of his speech to the Labour conference here in Liverpool.

The prime minister is attending the United Nations General Assembly, an unavoidable diary commitment which means that he will miss the rest of his party’s annual get-together, which ends on Wednesday.

Given the latest polling, Starmer may well be tempted to stay on the other side of the Atlantic.

Research by pollsters Savanta has revealed that the prime minister’s popularity has “nosedived” since Labour’s landslide election victory less than three months ago.

His net favourability rating among Labour voters is still a relatively health +43, but that is still 28 points lower than it was on July 4.

Among the wider public, the PM has plummeted from +15 to -11 as rows over freebies for senior Labour figures – including Starmer – and the controversial decision to scrap winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners take their toll.

Chris Hopkins, political research director at Savanta, said: “While he is still relatively popular among his own voters, he has absolutely seen a nosedive in support since the election, which was less than three months ago.

“The cumulative impacts of the summer unrest, the unpopular winter fuel allowance decision and ongoing questions around donations and hospitality appear to have considerably hurt Starmer and his government’s popularity, when they should still be riding high post-election.”

Against that grim backdrop, Starmer’s task this afternoon was simple – send his rank-and-file activists off with a spring in their step while assuring the watching public that things will eventually get better.

By that measure, his speech was a qualified success. He said all the right things about there being “light at the end of the tunnel”, but there was also a hefty dollop of gloom and doom.

Things will be “tough in the short-term”, the Labour leader told a conference hall yearning for some sunny optimism.

“It will be hard,” the PM said. “That’s not rhetoric – it’s reality.”

And while he insisted that it it will all turn out fine in the end, there was no hint of how long the country’s “shared struggle” will go on for.

In truth, Starmer’s sombre tone was very much in keeping with the mood among the conference delegates.

Unlike last year’s event, when the party faithful were excited and upbeat about the prospect of election victory, the cold blast of government reality – and the unpopular decisions that come with it  seems to have sucked the life from them.

Rather than celebrating their historic victory, government ministers have spent the week fending off accusations that they are robbing pensioners while getting their clothes bought for them by wealthy donors.

For long stretches of Starmer’s hour-long speech, his delivery matched the downbeat mood.

But, a bit like Rachel Reeves yesterday, a protester’s attempt to disrupt the PM’s big moment seemed to energise him.

“This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” Starmer said, a reference to the last one overseen by his predecessor and arch-enemy, Jeremy Corbyn.

“We’ve changed the party. While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party. That’s why we’ve got a Labour government.”

The crowd in the hall loved that one. But they saved their biggest ovation for their leader’s stirring conclusion.

“People said we couldn’t change the party – but we did,” he roared. “People said we wouldn’t win across Britain – but we have. People say we can’t deliver national renewal – but we can and we will.