Starmer should have conference in his hands – instead, power is slipping through his fingers | Frances Ryan

Last year’s triumph has turned into a groundhog day loop of missed chances and bad calls. The PM needs to change tack – but is he capable of it?A little over a year since Labour took office in a landslide and, with the Conservatives flatlining, by any measure, Keir Starmer should be riding into next week’s party conference as, if not quite a conquering hero, a leader in his prime. Instead, he is mired in tanking poll ratings, three scandalous exits and plots by his own MPs to oust him. If the early days of Starmer’s leadership ran with such ease that it spawned the joke he must have found a genie’s lamp, it appears his wishes have well and truly run out.The idea that Labour’s return to power has been a crushing disappointment is now a well-worn one. From shirking on Gaza and crashing on benefit reform to trusting Peter Mandelson, so far, Starmer’s premiership is a lesson in lost potential, where if a poor decision can be made, it will be and then some.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

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