Can Starmer’s upbeat note drown out the donation scandal? w/ Zoë Grünewald and Simon Kuper
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As Labour conference comes to a close, Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have declared war on tax dodgers and COVID corruption.
But don't worry, there's promises of sunshine and rainbows ahead. I'm Nish Kumar.
And I'm Coco Kahn. And this is Podsafe for UK.
We've got a stacked show for you today. Later, we're taking a second look at Starmer's Garm drama and finding out how money infected our politics with a very special guest. But first, we're joined by the wonderful Zoe Grunwald to get you up to speed on what happened at this week's Labour Party conference. Hello, Zoe.
Hello.
Fresh from conference?
Not so fresh from conference.
Unfresh from conference. A bit tired from conference. How was it?
How was it? It was corporate. I think there is a perception that Labour Party conference is one of the more fun conferences. And this year felt so actually overrun with business people, in my opinion. I mean, it was very crowded. All the fringe events were standing room only. There were lots of, you know, men in suits patrolling, which, you know, isn't unusual for a political conference. But it felt particularly busy this year, I'd say. And perhaps not as kind of grassrootsy, lively, young as Labour Party conference might have once have been.
Well, let's get into it. Here's a clip of the Prime Minister addressing that very Labour Party conference.
More money in their pocket to do the things they love. More faith in their public services because once again Labour rebuilt them. An NHS facing the future. More security and dignity at work. Town centres thriving. Streets safe. Borders controlled at last. Clean energy harnessed for national renewal. New homes, new towns, new hospitals, roads and schools. A new future for our children. That is what people will get. And mark my words, we will deliver it.
So he's promising everything with the kitchen sink there, which is at least a nice change from you will all have to consume each other's flesh as things get steadily worse in this country, which is sort of in the previous line. What did you make of it, Zoe? Was the tone of the conference in general in line with Starmer's speech a little bit more hopeful?
I would say they were definitely making a concerted effort to be more hopeful, a bit more jolly, a bit less gloomy. You know, I wasn't quite sure about the slogan, change begins, because as you say, that speech in the Rose Garden where it was like, things are going to get pretty bad.
Yeah, change is not always positive.
Yeah, and it's like, that's beginning right now. It's like, oh no, more terrible things. But I mean, you could really tell they were trying to make an effort to inject a little bit of that sort of 1997 vibe hopeful, you know, vibe to conference. And that was really shown, I think, in Rachel Reeves' speech where she had this big kind of smile plastered on her face, which I actually found in moments a little bit creepy. But I think with Starmer's speech, it started off A little bit slow, a little bit disparate. You know, he struggles to tell a story, I think. It sometimes feels like he's kind of moving all over the place. But as he went on, he warmed up. And there were moments where I think he spoke with quite a lot of passion.
So do you think that, because obviously Starmer's... His opinion rating is quite low. I think there is still a problem where people don't understand what he stands for. I was hearing a conversation about him the other day and people talking about how even with Blair, his line was, he's a modern man for a modern Britain. And almost his youth in adopting technology, that was part of the brand. And people still don't fully know what the brand Starmer is. Do you think this corrected it a bit?
Not really. I think he is... practical, pragmatic, and sort of like a boring public service. It's pretty dull, but that's kind of part of his appeal. The problem is when you are trying to keep the country with you for a decade, that's what they want, a decade of national renewal, you do have to tell a bit of a story and you do have to inspire them and excite them.
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