GB News: Breaking down Keir Starmer’s Labour policy essay
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On the eve of his first in-person Labour Party conference since taking the top job, Sir Keir is eager to provide fresh momentum to his beleaguered leadership. The Holborn and St Pancras MP has struggled to cut through with the public over the course of the pandemic.
Taking over when the UK had already been plunged into lockdown, opportunities for Sir Keir to get out on the road and meet the voters have been short.
Lagging behind Boris Johnson in the polls, the party conference in Brighton over the coming days is seen as a make or break moment for his leadership.
And today, Sir Keir was left in no doubt as to just how much work he has to do.
Carrying out media interviews ahead of the start of conference, ITV forced the former director of public prosecutions to sit and watch clips of Britons savaging him for failing to present an alternative vision for Britain.
Asked what Sir Keir stands for, one voter from Consett, County Durham simply replied “don’t know”.
Another said: “I know he’s the Labour leader, and that’s it.”
A third added: “I don’t think he’s as strong as what he should be.
“I mean, this guy, he should be giving Boris Johnson a good hiding really.”
Accusing Sir Keir of not reflecting the priorities of working-class families, another said: “I thought Labour was about the people, the working-class people and that.
“But I’m not too sure that’s what he stands for.”
The Labour leader sat listening intently as the voters savaged his record so far.
He admitted he would have to take the video “on the chin”.
However, defending himself, Sir Keir said the pandemic had not given him the opportunity to properly engage with the voters.
Speaking about the video, he said: “It reinforces my point that in the last 18 months I’ve not been able to get out and make the argument in the way I wanted to.”
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The Opposition leader added whenever possible he had been trying to talk to normal people over the course of the pandemic.
“In Darlington, when you’re next there with a camera, go and talk to the taxi rank drivers,” he said.
“Because, every time I’ve been through Darlington I’ve been having a conversation.
“I’ve stopped and talked to them about them having a really tough time in Covid.
“I stopped and took the time to talk to them, and I actually went back to them two or three weeks later.
“They said Boris Johnson got off the train at Darlington and walked right past them without acknowledging them.
“They said that I stopped, talked to them, heard what they were saying and then came back.”
Sir Keir Starmer will make address delegates at Labour’s conference next Wednesday.
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