It is just 14 months since the general election. Not yet 500 days. Labour has a working majority of 161.But here on the banks of the Mersey, it really doesn’t feel like that.I am reminded of Conservative conferences of old, where a circus would accompany Boris Johnson from the railway station to each and every event he attended, in the years when it was transparently clear he was rather keen on becoming prime minister.Swop a former mayor of London and subsequent prime minister for the current mayor of Greater Manchester and aspiring prime minister Andy Burnham, and you have a sense of the vibe here.There is no shortage of acidic views about what is seen as the rather thrusting nature of Burnham’s ambition, or near hagiographic accounts of his governance of Greater Manchester as its mayor – with the clear implication he should stay there.But there is one big reason why all this is happening, so early in this parliament: it is symptomatic of a party wrestling publicly and privately with how it confronts Reform UK.There is broad and deep reflection from plenty here – from the cabinet to councillors – that the pitch right now from Labour to the country isn’t good enough.This is why we are seeing a sharpening in the language and the policies being presented now.No fewer than 10 cabinet ministers are addressing this conference from the main stage on Monday.The centrepiece address will be from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who will argue that Reform presents a threat to the Br …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnIt is just 14 months since the general election. Not yet 500 days. Labour has a working majority of 161.But here on the banks of the Mersey, it really doesn’t feel like that.I am reminded of Conservative conferences of old, where a circus would accompany Boris Johnson from the railway station to each and every event he attended, in the years when it was transparently clear he was rather keen on becoming prime minister.Swop a former mayor of London and subsequent prime minister for the current mayor of Greater Manchester and aspiring prime minister Andy Burnham, and you have a sense of the vibe here.There is no shortage of acidic views about what is seen as the rather thrusting nature of Burnham’s ambition, or near hagiographic accounts of his governance of Greater Manchester as its mayor – with the clear implication he should stay there.But there is one big reason why all this is happening, so early in this parliament: it is symptomatic of a party wrestling publicly and privately with how it confronts Reform UK.There is broad and deep reflection from plenty here – from the cabinet to councillors – that the pitch right now from Labour to the country isn’t good enough.This is why we are seeing a sharpening in the language and the policies being presented now.No fewer than 10 cabinet ministers are addressing this conference from the main stage on Monday.The centrepiece address will be from Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who will argue that Reform presents a threat to the Br …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
