How might he not have been cheerful?
This was the primary Labour chief’s convention speech delivered as prime minister in 15 years – 5,474 days if any disconsolate occasion activists have been counting.
So it was little marvel that Sir Keir Starmer was so rapturously obtained in by the rank and file within the corridor.
The lengthy wait is over. A celebration chief not castigating the federal government from the sidelines however describing what the federal government – a Labour authorities – will really do.
Nicely, up to some extent. This was a speech comparatively gentle on new coverage and heavy on political framing.
As marketed, the prime minister picked up where Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, left off yesterday – not merely warning gloomily of the robust selections to return however attempting to mission extra optimism concerning the dividends which is able to come from making the robust selections.
Once more, although – solely up to some extent. No extra “false hope”, Starmer mentioned. No extra “straightforward solutions”.
Sure, he mentioned, there can be gentle on the finish of the tunnel. However it’s nonetheless very clearly the federal government’s view that there’s going to be an extended tunnel.
Maybe probably the most constant, and recent, theme was that of trade-offs – in areas the place the prime minister mentioned his Conservative predecessors had been dishonest.
Cheaper electrical energy, he mentioned, requires new pylons (that bought a notably massive spherical of applause). Public consent for the welfare state requires laws to cease profit fraud. Justice requires individuals residing near new prisons. Tackling unlawful immigration requires granting some individuals asylum.
Whereas insisting there aren’t any straightforward solutions, the number of trade-offs right here did seem to disclose preferences on the prime minister’s half: extra pylons, a more durable advantages regime, extra prisons, clearer routes for official asylum claims.
These are clear instructions of journey on some thorny coverage areas. However extra flesh will must be placed on the bones. Take the example of prisons. How exactly will the planning system guarantee communities can’t object to or decelerate new prisons? How will the brand new prisons be funded? What sorts of offence does the prime minister imagine ought to and mustn’t end in custodial sentences anyway?
That’s the danger – that within the fullness of time this involves be seen as a speech lengthy on prognosis however brief on prescription.
The inverse is feasible too: that this speech units a framework for the last decade of nationwide renewal that Sir Keir continues to explain as his objective.
That requires the federal government to ship over the approaching weeks, months and years. Can they achieve this?
That’s a query which is inconceivable to look at with out mentioning the briefings and leakings about Starmer’s Downing Street operation which have been the discuss of this convention’s events and dinners.
The jubilant activists have offered an vital morale enhance to the highest ranks of the Labour Social gathering who – regardless of the public denials – are deeply involved about whether or not the prime minister has the precise group in the precise jobs, and deeply divided over the reply.
It might sound mundane given the dimensions of the challenges Starmer identified in his speech, however supply in authorities depends on a Downing Road firing on all cylinders.
Even cupboard ministers have spent a lot of the previous few days privately bemoaning what they see because the deficiencies in how the federal government is functioning.
The prime minister might have to repair these to repair Britain.
