Labour conference diary: applause for Israel, Reeves-mania and lax security even after Keir Starmer’s speech

The exhibition hall, where businesses, charities and media groups have stands, was busier than it has been for years, and, even if Sir Keir Starmer won’t admit it, a buzz of anticipation and belief that Labour could form the next government. 

The message discipline from not just the shadow cabinet, but backbench MPs, was tight - a far cry from the scenes of infighting under Jeremy Corbyn. Instead it was the Tory conference which was punctuated by division, with right-wing figures like Liz Truss and Lord Frost criticising the government over tax cuts and Brexit. 

Several Labour insiders actually said the Conservative conference in Manchester reminded them of the annual jamborees held when Corbyn was leader - where the focus was in niche debates on the fringes.

Applause for Israel

Speaking of Corbyn, it’s incredible to think how quickly Starmer has changed the Labour Party. It would have been impossible to imagine a standing ovation for comments that “Israel has the right to defend herself” five years ago - yet that’s exactly what happened.

Rightfully, Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel dominated the news agenda during the conference. Sources told me that Starmer deliberately made his speech policy light, as broadcasters and newspapers are focusing intently on the war.

As it is the Labour Party conference, there were plenty of fringe events to discuss Palestinian rights. I attended one, where solicitor Tayab Ali put the blame for the Hamas attack on our politicians. 

He told the audience: “What has happened to the world’s leaders, that they’ve got this so, so wrong. The responsibilities to what is happening, and what has happened, rests heavily with their failures, the failures of our politicians.”

And Ali added: “The recent attack has been described as a surprise attack, a monumental failure of the Israeli intelligence and security agencies. It’s not a surprise attack, for Gaza it did not come out of nowhere, Palestinian advocates have been asking for the world to stop ignoring the plight of Palestinians for decades.”

Brexit is an ‘impossible proposition’

Nowhere was message discipline more obvious than Brexit. Despite the polls showing that Bregret (Brexit regret) is at an all-time high, Starmer has been clear that he believes there is no case for rejoining the EU, the customs union or the single market. 

And this was echoed even amongst some of the most pro-EU MPs in the party. Stella Creasy told a fringe event I attended: “Whoever has tried to get toothpaste back into a toothpaste tube after they’ve accidentally squeezed out too much - that is what trying to reverse Brexit feels like. It’s an impossible proposition - so what we need to do is to set out what we can do instead.”

While former New Labour Cabinet minister Douglas Alexander told the audience that Starmer was right to be cautious electorally, and compared this to Labour issues in Scotland after the independence referendum.

He said: “We lost a generation of support to Labour with people who voted yes to independence in 2014 and then felt they had to re-litigate that referendum choice nine months later in the general election in 2015, and the following elections of 2017 and 2019.”

Starmer appears happy not to give himself wiggle room when it comes to rejoining the single market. At a drinks reception, I was chatting to a senior party figure who told me “there’s no way Labour will go near rejoining”.

Reeves-mania

While Sir Keir Starmer found himself covered in glitter, within the maze-like halls of the conference complex in Liverpool it appeared Rachel Reeves was the big star. Businesses and lobbyists are clearly expecting Reeves to become the first female Chancellor, as wherever she went she was being approached left, right and centre.

At drinks receptions Labour members were desperate to get selfies with Reeves, with an audible buzz every time she entered a room and her speech got seven standing ovations. She told Rishi Sunak to “bring it on” if he wanted a fight over whether private schools should dodge paying VAT and business rates at a time when children in state schools are being taught in temporary classrooms due to crumbling concrete.

Lax security before and after Starmer's speech

As is widely known, Starmer’s speech was interrupted at the start by a “democracy protester” - whose vague demands appeared to include some sort of citizens’ assembly. What fewer people will know was the difference between the security operation at the Labour and Tory party conferences.

In Manchester, attendees had to put their bags through an airport style scanner, go through a metal detector and on some occasions justify why you were bringing a laptop in. However, in Liverpool at Labour’s conference, there was no scanner or metal detector, and security gave the most cursory glance into your bag. 

Even after the protester crashed Starmer’s speech, security were waving people into the complex without even looking into bags or pockets. And Starmer was impressive in remaining calm, after all two MPs have been murdered since 2016 - Jo Cox and Sir David Amess. 

It was hard for me to get a true reflection of Starmer’s speech, as bizarrely I wasn’t allowed in the hall by a Labour press officer - not even to stand at the back. A worrying trend after other journalists were blocked from attending Rishi Sunak’s speech in person.

I had to assess Starmer the way most of the public did, on TV, and found that while he appears more Prime Ministerial than ever - reasons to vote for Labour (instead of merely not voting for the Conservatives) are still quite short on the ground.

As a millennial who’s part of generation rent, I was pleased he promised to tackle the housing crisis and build 1.5million homes in the next five years - something Rishi Sunak completely ignored. 

However I felt too much of his speech focused on the current government, as opposed to what Labour will do in power. There were too many vague metaphors like: “Can we deliver the rock of stability they need to move forwards with their lives, shelter from the storm and passage of calmer waters.”

One thing’s for certain Starmer has never looked so confident - will it be enough to convince voters he should be the next Prime Minister, only time will tell.