LIVERPOOL: A pep-talk from Australian leader Anthony Albanese kick-started UK Labour\u2019s annual conference on Sunday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer struggling to convince nervous members that he can lead the \u201cfight of our lives\u201d against the insurgent hard-right.<\/p>\n
Although the ex-lawyer led Labour back to power in July last year after 14 years in opposition, scandals, policy missteps, and plummeting poll ratings have already raised doubts about his future.<\/p>\n
The four-day gathering in Liverpool, northwest England, comes amid chatter about a possible leadership challenge and follows two recent high-profile departures from government in the wake of embarrassing revelations.<\/p>\n
The conference, which concludes on Wednesday, is taking place with Labour lagging well behind the upstart anti-immigrant Reform UK party, led by anti-EU firebrand Nigel Farage, in national surveys.<\/p>\n
Going into the conference, Labour trailed Reform by 12 points, while Starmer\u2019s satisfaction ratings hit the lowest recorded by Ipsos for any prime minister since 1977.<\/p>\n
Starmer said on Sunday that the party had \u201cgot the fight of our lives ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to take on Reform, we\u2019ve got to beat them. The effects will be there for generations,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
He also called Reform\u2019s plan to make migrants reapply for new visas with tougher rules \u201cracist,\u201d adding it would \u201ctear our country apart.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite some success on the international stage in helping coordinate European support for Ukraine, Starmer has endured a largely disappointing first 14 months domestically as prime minister.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s sluggish economy means a tax-raising budget is reportedly looming, while Starmer has U-turned on welfare reforms and scrapping energy benefits for millions of pensioners following anger among Labour\u2019s left-wing base.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, small boat crossings to England of undocumented migrants are at record levels, fueling support for Reform.<\/p>\n
Starmer\u2019s attempts to reboot his government earlier in September were quickly overshadowed by Angela Rayner\u2019s resignation as deputy prime minister for underpaying property tax.<\/p>\n
Starmer then sacked Peter Mandelson as Britain\u2019s ambassador in Washington over his friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the row raising questions about his judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis leadership is in crisis, really,\u201d said political scientist Steven Fielding. \u201cAnd the conference isn\u2019t really going to resolve that. It\u2019ll give people occasion to air their discontent with Starmer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Australian leader Albanese offered words of support for his \u201cfriend\u201d in one of the conference\u2019s first speeches.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a party of government means grappling with uncertainty and complexity. .., it means making, and yes, owning tough decisions,\u201d he told members.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut friends, we wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. We\u2019re better for all of that, because in the end, the hard road is the only one that takes us anywhere,\u201d he added, taking a swipe at \u201cthe low politics of fear and resentment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeking to follow Albanese\u2019s example, Starmer will aim to spark a turnaround in his fortunes when he delivers the keynote speech at the gathering on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conference is a pivotal moment because it\u2019s an opportunity for him to lay out a clear vision of where he is taking the country,\u201d said Patrick Diamond, politics professor at Queen Mary, University of London.<\/p>\n
He is expected to pitch the next general election, due in 2029, as a straight fight between Labour and Reform, saying the choice is between \u201cpatriotic renewal\u201d and \u201ctoxic division.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regional mayor Andy Burnham has called on Starmer to put forward a more leftist vision for Labour, claiming in interviews this week that lawmakers have been urging him to run for leader.<\/p>\n
Burnham would first have to find a way to get elected to parliament, and 80 MPs would then have to nominate him to trigger a contest, meaning Starmer is unlikely to face a challenge soon.<\/p>\n
The Gaza conflict is also likely to burst onto the agenda with demonstrations planned by pro-Palestinian groups in Liverpool over the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LIVERPOOL: A pep-talk from Australian leader Anthony Albanese kick-started UK Labour\u2019s annual conference on Sunday, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer struggling to convince nervous members that he can lead the \u201cfight of our lives\u201d against the insurgent hard-right. Although the ex-lawyer led Labour back to power in July last year after 14 years in opposition, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":87467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87468,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87452\/revisions\/87468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}