The conference season has started for our political parties. Of course, one can understand why the gathering of the faithful, and the lonely, might be a good idea for the Tories and Labour. Though I still not understood what parties like the Liberal Democrats get out of it, apart from bigger debts.
Last week the Labour Party had one of their best conferences I guess for some 15 years. It seems most competing groups within Labour finally understood that a public showing of disunity and discord just does not work. For the sake of their own preservation, they must bite the bullet and accept the dictate from their leader Keir and look happy doing it. They even became British and nationalist when the conference opened uncharacteristically with the national Anthem. What people will do for power!
By all standards Labour managed to keep most of the controversial stuff out of their agenda. They made sure most of the extremists within the party were kept in check, and when they did get a chance to vent their frustrations, the party machinery came through to divert attention of the media. Starmer even made one of his best speeches to conference. To be honest, the lay of the land is such that he could not stop hitting a four or a six. On this occasion he did show some grit and took advantage of the situation. My friends, that is what politics is all about, you don’t have to be right, or moral, or have any sustainable policies – you just need to take advantage of any opportunity that arises. The reward, the nation gave him a very sizeable lead in the polls.
People do tend to get carried away with mid-term polls though. I don’t doubt Labour are clearly ahead, but I do doubt the extent of that lead. Especially when it comes to the run up to the next election in Spring 2024. A week is a long time in politics, we have 18 months to go.
Whilst Starmer was making hay, what were the Tories doing? Well, they got rid of their natural vote winning asset, PM Boris Johnson. He kept making silly errors, but that is Boris. Could someone have advised him better, yes of course. In the end he’s gone, and the Tories had their battle for the top position. Whoever won was going to have to pick up the poison chalice. The world is going through testing times. Nations are crumbling under pressure from energy prices. Inflation is high globally, not just the UK. National debts are rising everywhere, not just in the UK. To square this impossible circle, no incoming leader was ever going to succeed immediately. Truss and Kwarteng made one fatal error, the cutting of the top rate of income tax from 45% to 40%. This became gold dust to the opposition. It was too easy to ridicule the whole budget because of this one fatal error. The narrative of the budget became money for the rich, when in reality huge sums were also allocated for the rest of the nation. A U-Turn on it was inevitable. One hopes lessons have been learnt and such silly errors are avoided.
The Tory Party Conference has just started, given the background, there is very little it can achieve but to put a brake on the downward spiral. Conservatives need to unite, focus on the bread-and-butter issues, and stabilise economic indicators within its power. It has the whole of 2023 in which it can claw back the lost yardage to Labour. However, the work starts now, and they need a better handle on the pulse of the nation.
As they say, ‘there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip’. If Labour loses the election, that would be the final nail and one must wonder if it’s fit for purpose. Can Starmer the white knight save Labour?
