The only interesting thing Keir Starmer ever said

One of the tests I have been applying during recent speculation about the field of candidates vying to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister is whether any of them has ever said anything memorable.

Liz Truss, for example, once said something about cheese being a disgrace. Penny Mordaunt had a bet to see how many times she could get a rude word into a Commons speech – though I recall that, in her favour, she also gave an answer from the despatch box in sign language. Ben Wallace was once close to tears while talking about the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

But on the Conservative side, Rishi Sunak is the only one who really passes the test, having said in October 2020: “The overwhelming might of the British state will be placed at your service.”

The Labour field is equally thin. Wes Streeting has said some Blairite things about using the private sector to help the NHS, but until recently, the two things Keir Starmer was known for were arguing for a second EU referendum and claiming that it “shouldn’t be said” that “only women have a cervix”.

Then, last month, the Labour leader announced that he would resign if he were served with a fixed penalty notice for breaking coronavirus law. At the time, I thought it shifted the balance of power between him and the prime minister. I didn’t like the way he said it – while holding a vainglorious news conference – but I thought it was a politically effective thing to say, mainly because I don’t think he will be fined.

What I had not appreciated, though, was how little it had cut through to the general public. Ed Dorrell of Public First, writing in The Independent on Thursday, reported the comments of a focus group of 2019 Tory voters in Wakefield (where there is a by-election next week). He said that the group was not aware of Starmer’s pledge, but when they watched a video of it, they were enthusiastic. “I found that genuine and heartfelt,” said one member. “I’ve just seen him in a different light now.”

This suggests to me that, as long as Boris Johnson is prime minister, Starmer has a secret weapon against him. In a general election campaign, people who don’t normally pay attention to politics will want to know more about Starmer, and one of the things they will find out about him is that he has said something memorable – and it is something of which many of them strongly approve.

Starmer has passed the test, but because this is not yet widely known, it lies like an unexploded mine on the Conservatives’ road to the next election. It is one more reason for thinking that the party will have to change leader before it next asks the British people for their votes.

Yours,

John Rentoul

Chief political commentator