Keir Starmer has everything going for him. A decisive opinion poll lead – which his party has held since December 2021. A party that has unions, members and MPs working together for victory, as was shown at the national policy forum where Starmer got his way on every issue. A talented frontbench – who politician for politician outclass the current tired Tory cabinet.
Or nearly everything. Labour currently lacks one vital quality: confidence. While heading for a victory bigger than Tony Blair’s landslide of 1997, the party appears to be too frightened to fight. Whenever the Tories do something profoundly amoral or un-British – such as telling refugees to “fuck off”, as their vice-chair, Lee Anderson, recently did – Labour seems scared of going on the attack. (And what Anderson said should be stated in its full unbowdlerised form.) But, like showbiz, successful electoral politics requires swagger, plus a desire to run towards the sound of gunfire, not away from it.
