Embattled UK prime minister Keir Starmer came out swinging against his critics, as his Labour Party’s annual conference kicked off in Liverpool.
Some of his opponents were also out in force at the event, however, as a large contingent of hard right protesters were kept back by police from the ACC venue in Liverpool’s docklands.
Many among the 300 or 400 protesters carried placards opposing Starmer’s new plan to introduce mandatory digital ID for Britons. They were joined by anti-immigration protesters and an assortment of activists brandishing Union Jack flags and English flags.
The Irish Times also recognised several of the protesters from asylum hotel protests in the northwest of England over the summer.
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Lines of police, including some drafted in from Wales – they wore Welsh ‘Heddlu’ uniforms – held the noisy demonstrators at the cordon on the outer edge of the conference’s secure compound, where some of them shouted abuse at attendees through the gates.
Inside the venue, the atmosphere was more sedate among delegates.
Starmer on Sunday cast his party as being in “the fight of our lives” with Nigel Farage’s politically-rampant Reform UK. He also suggested that Farage wants to “tear apart” the tolerant version of Britain that Starmer said he wants to save.
The Labour leader has endured a torrid month that started with the loss of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who quit for underpaying stamp duty on a flat. He was also forced to sack Peter Mandelson, his ambassador to the US, on the eve of a visit by Donald Trump over Mandelson’s links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The chaos in Starmer’s barely-15 month-old administration also deepened by the churn among his Downing Street advisers – last week he lost his fourth director of communications in a year, while another aide also quit.
The sense of drama, along with Labour’s alarming slide in polls to an average of nine points behind Reform, have emboldened Starmer’s internal critics, with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham positioning himself as a potential challenger.
One senior Labour parliamentarian speaking to The Irish Times last week that the prime minister’s own MPs were “sick to death” of him.
Much of the internal Labour ire directed at Downing Street has focused on Starmer’s Cork-born chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who is accused of a “divisive” approach.
Yet on BBC journalist Laura Kuennsberg’s television show on Sunday morning, Starmer waved away his critics and said he was going nowhere.
The pall of Reform, which several polls suggest would win power if an election were held tomorrow, hung low over the Labour conference on Sunday.
Starmer pitched his party’s battle with Reform as the new political rivalry to define British patriotism – he dismissed the Tories as “dead” – and promised to defend the “beautiful, tolerant, diverse” version of Britain he recognised.
“Reform do not believe in that country,” said Starmer. “They want to tear it apart.”
He accused Farage’s party of having a “racist” policy on legal migration – Reform wants to end ‘indefinite leave to remain’ status for all long-term foreign residents, forcing them instead to reapply every five years.
“Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist,” said Zia Yusuf, Farage’s top lieutenant at Reform, in response.
A clampdown down on migration – legal and illegal – is still at the heart of Starmer’s planned fightback against Reform. He has criticised employers for relying on foreign labour instead of training British workers, while on Sunday he also suggested he could end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers earlier than a 2029 deadline.
It is also expected that Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will announce a new hardline approach towards granting immigrants the right to stay in Britain, in her conference speech scheduled for Monday.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor of the exchequer, will be the main focus of attention on Monday, when she gives her second speech since taking the reins on Britain’s spluttering finances and flaccid economy.
However, the spectre of Burnham as a potential challenger remained. Burnham angered some MPs outside of his Manchester hinterland last week by suggesting he could challenge Starmer. He hasn’t run for cover, however. The conference agenda listed him as a speaker, or invited to speak, at up to eight events on Monday alone.
Starmer’s speech is on Tuesday afternoon, when he will outline his vision to defeat Reform. His nervous supporters, and critics, will be watching out for any missteps.
