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LABOUR are holding their first party conference in government for 15 years over the next four days.
The first 11 weeks in office have been a mixed bag.
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Keir Starmer has been hit by criticism about the scale of the freebies he has accepted.
I think there is a big difference between a longstanding Arsenal supporter receiving hospitality at the ground and the perfectly legal but, to many, inexplicable taking of large-scale gifts such as designer clothes.
Perception, as the Tories discovered, is everything in politics.
The Sue Gray briefing war has also diverted Labour. But if the chief of staff had taken just a £5,000 reduction in salary so that she was not earning more than the PM, this piece of bad publicity could have been avoided.
READ MORE ON KEIR STARMER
Sometimes you just need some political nous.
Labour should be mindful of that this week.
As they head to conference, Labour should be cock-a-hoop; finally in government again and with a landslide majority.
So why are Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves so gloomy?
Each week brings new doom-laden warnings about the perilous state of our economy and public services. On the one hand they have a point.
The Tories knocked the stuffing out of Britain.
We need to put rocket boosters under our economy. And our public services are in desperate need of reform.
Telling the truth about the inheritance from the last government is important.
But Keir and Rachel are at serious risk of being far too funereal.
The reason why Labour have such a large majority in Parliament is that the British people had already got the message.
Energising people
But if the Government is too downbeat, it risks harming our economy.
Labour promised to deliver the highest growth of any country in the G7. This means energising people and businesses.
We can’t regenerate Britain on a diet of thin gruel and miserableness. They must offer hope.
No10 must also be wary of siren voices in the Treasury telling them nothing can be done without resorting to the same old answers; immediate cutbacks or another dose of austerity.
Low growth, low productivity and a feeling of hopelessness have, over the past 100 years, so often coincided with Treasury orthodoxy.
The incoming government must not only reveal black holes in public finances, it must come up with smart solutions that don’t result in the medicine being almost as bad as the problem you aim to cure.
That means investing in infrastructure and in skills for the future.
Labour are planning to introduce a new deal for employees. This is meant to include new workers’ rights from “day one” in the job, including the right to switch off and not answer your emails after a day’s work.
Providing employees with security at work is also important. But we must not put so much red tape on businesses that it harms growth.
Jump-starting our economy must be the No1 priority. The Chancellor has already made one very controversial decision – cutting winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. I am sure the bean-counters at the Treasury said it needed to be cut, and that means-testing was fairer.
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Yet Labour has managed to annoy millions of voting pensioners in its first months in office, all for just over £1billion.
It sounds a lot but not when it comes to the giant amounts the state spends every year.
The political lesson here is that retired people vote in very large numbers.
Pain now, with the promise of something better tomorrow, is all very well. But get the balance wrong and a volatile electorate will turn to those offering simple and crude solutions.
Keir must not become a “jam tomorrow” Prime Minister.
He must take voters with him. He must inspire and weave a compelling story about a better Britain under Labour.
Keir has shown he is a hugely capable PM. Britain is once more becoming a real player in the world.
He was quick and tough in putting down the recent riots. He has settled deeply damaging strikes.
Providing a vision of a Britain in the world of tomorrow and an uplifting message of hope will be a crucial part of his speech on Tuesday.
Keir needs to show that whatever the challenges, he can unite the country and lead it on to a brighter future.
