I’ve been saying ever since Starmer became leader that his task was in essence three-fold :
Stage 1 : Regain control of the party’s power structures, begin to deal effectively with the anti-semitism problem, and neutralise the Trots.
Stage 2 : Regain the trust of the electorate, re-establishing the Labour Party as a credible alternative party of government again, and cementing in the public consciousness the idea of Keir Starmer as THE alternative Prime Minister in waiting, and the shadow cabinet (which he has finally fully populated with highly competent, capable, and charismatic MPs) as THE alternative government in waiting.
Stage 3 : Build a credible alternative policy offer, on Coronavirus recovery, mitigation of the consequences of the Tory Brexit (aka “make Brexit work” - which I am slightly concerned about as a slogan), re-building the economy, the housing sector, schools and the NHS. Meanwhile, get Labour’s campaign machinery back in shape. Re-structure the regional offices, and get proper organisational resources back in place.
Stage one is largely complete. Stage two is, tentatively, beginning to be classed as achieved too - we need it to continue all the way to the election, though. Stage three is in progress (
https://labourlist.org/2021/10/every-ne ... ence-2021/ ) and will be fully ready whenever the election comes, despite the calumny, myth as it is and encouraged by the Trots that “nobody knows what Labour stands for”.
It’s all been a bit softly softly catchee monkey, but thus far, in my view, Starmer has put nary a foot wrong in a uniquely difficult political climate. His key speech today reinforces Stage 2, and keeps the party on course. There will be rocky patches on the road ahead, for sure (though as time goes by I’m less and less concerned about the Ford report), but as long as we hold our nerve, the Trot spanners that they keep trying to lob into the works won’t derail Starmer’s journey (please excuse the mixed metaphors). The ideal is to get the party into the position it was in from about mid 1995 - whereby just about every elector simply
knew that when election day came round we were going to sling out a corrupt, incompetent government that had been there too long, and elect a new, capable, honest, and yes, exciting Labour government. Roll on, and bring it on.