Keir Starmer thinks the UK's economic turmoil presents him with a chance, says our political editor.
"Plenty will tell you it's a good idea to bury your differences. But in the Labour Party we like to bury our similarities!"He leans back in his chair, headphones on, chuckling,a few hours after Keir Starmer's speech to this year's Labour Conference.
A buoyancy borne of banishing the internal squabbles of the past; floating too on the self made troubles of the new prime minister. Sir Keir's speech was not just a transparent repudiation of the era of Jeremy Corbyn - a man, remember, he served alongside and who he campaigned to make prime minister - it was also a naked embrace of the instincts, even the language of Tony Blair.
One phrase used by some in Keir Starmer's circle is "hero voters" - a reference to people who have previously abandoned Labour but are now willing to return. Oh, and incidentally, some senior figures hate the phrase "hero voters", thinking it is a patronising phrase that belongs in a nerdy Westminster presentation, if that, and certainly not for use more widely.There was a conscious attempt by Labour to ensure the leader's speech was not the rhetorical equivalent of "comfort eating" as it was put to me: in other words, talking about stuff that is comfortable ground for Labour activists, such as the NHS.
When, in government, there is nervousness about talking about what is going on, and there is nervousness about not talking about what is going on, it tells you one thing: they are not in control of events.
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