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From freebie frocks to foreign policy, conference only exposed the cracks in Starmer’s project
The lack of serious debate on electoral weakness and key policy issues only made the disconnect between the leadership’s austerity agenda and the concerns of the party’s rank-and-file more blatant, writes ANDREW MURRAY
Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Picture date: Tuesday September 24, 2024

LABOUR conference? The first thing to understand is that it is not, in essence, a very serious event.

A serious Labour Party conference this year would have included a sober review of the party’s election result, which yielded a large but highly brittle majority on a puny vote share.

The reasons for polling around 10 per cent less of the electorate than anticipated would be examined, and ideas for how to do better next time explored.

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