This week's WTWN is a Labour Conference special: a well-received (and relieved) Starmer speech, Lucy Powell's election ploughs on and Torsten Bell gets caught taunting.
Read more in this week's Who's Top, Who's Not.
Top – Sir Keir Starmer
It would be an understatement to say the past few weeks have been rocky for the Prime Minister. An unexpected reshuffle triggered by Angela Rayner’s resignation, rumblings from within the ranks about his leadership—with a particular northern Mayor teasing the idea of an alternative—and polls showing Labour slipping behind Reform all cast a shadow over his path to conference.
Yet in his conference speech, Starmer managed to generate a surge of optimism and unity, winning praise even from sceptics. His denunciation of Reform’s immigration stance as immoral, coupled with his swipe at Nigel Farage as “un-British,” struck a chord both inside the hall and beyond. At the same time, his reminder that a Labour government needs more time to deliver results offered a dose of realism while rekindling hope after months of budget constraints and political scandal.
Not everyone is convinced, but he has impressed (or intimidated) opponents enough to quiet dissent, at least for now. This was a critical moment for Starmer’s leadership, and it seems he has succeeded in keeping the wolves at bay, for now.
Middle ranking – Lucy Powell
From being pushed off the frontbench to now being the bookies’ favourite for the next deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell’s last four weeks have been something of a rollercoaster. Coming into conference, Powell – perceived as an ally of Andy Burnham – was given greater authority, emerging as the parliamentary face of a ‘soft-left’ faction within the party. This profile was only heightened by Burnham’s provocative intervention when asked if he would consider leading Labour one day, a question he chose not to bat away.
Powell’s positioning within the party is significant: she retains grassroots support, is seen as an effective organiser, and carries the backing of one of Labour’s most recognisable mayors, as well as her old boss Ed Miliband. That, combined with her capacity to criticise the government now that she is outside of it, makes her the frontrunner for the deputy leadership. But whether that would translate into her eventually being brought back into government as Deputy Leader at a later date is another matter entirely.
Bottom – Torsten Bell
If conference offers an opportunity for junior ministers to make a name for themselves, it can just as easily backfire—as Torsten Bell discovered this week.
Widely seen as one of Labour’s rising stars with a brain the size of Liverpool's conference centre, Bell jumped the ministerial queue ahead of longer-serving MPs. But at a recent event sponsored by Whitehouse Communications (status signalling duly noted), he was caught dismissing Ed Davey as “a fat bloke in a wetsuit.” Unsurprisingly, the quip landed badly beyond the room.
It may have been a spur-of-the-moment quip, but it has given him negative media attention. For opponents outside Labour, it provides a neat narrative: a party that lectures about dignity in politics while its own front bench can’t resist cheap shots. It has also dragged Torsten’s past back into the light, with the ghost of the 2015 campaign looming over him once more. The infamous ‘EdStone’ — which some claim was his brainchild — has brought back memories, hardly the sort of legacy any rising star wants back in the open.
More awkward still, the focus has shifted to his current work with Rachel Reeves on the Autumn budget. With the OECD warning of stormy economic weather, Bell will need to focus on carefully retaining the UK’s economic credibility, balancing the books, creating the conditions for economic growth and giving Labour backbenchers enough policy goodies to keep them sweet on the doorstep.