What Starmer should’ve said
Instead of rehashing the same old lines
Reading off a teleprompter against a Labour backdrop was the wrong approach for the moment. The Prime Minister should’ve stood outside Number 10, and said the following -
When I came into Downing Street, two years ago, I told you things would be difficult.
I said that things would get worse before they got better.
I wasn’t wrong.
We’re seeing that bear out.
This has been a difficult week for our party. It’s been a difficult year for our country.
But we were elected on a mandate to fix a broken Britain.
And we are fixing it.
Immigration is falling at an unprecedented rate. It’s at its lowest level in more than 5 years.
The asylum backlog is falling: at its lowest level since 2020. We are processing asylum seekers faster. And people who aren’t eligible are being removed faster.
The NHS waiting list is coming down: now at its lowest in three years and getting lower every day.
And, when we entered office, there were record high numbers of children in poverty. Those numbers are finally falling. That’s my proudest achievement in this job.
Britain is bouncing back.
After decades of decline, crisis after crisis - we are putting the ‘Great’ back in ‘Great Britain’.
There are 3,000 more neighbourhood police officers tackling crime.
We’ve renationalised 11 rail operators.
Inflation is finally back under control.
The plan is working.
So my message to my MPs is this.
If you don’t believe in the plan, if you don’t have the patience and the restraint to stick it out, then you can - and should - leave the party.
People voted for us because they wanted a party that was sensible, patient and in control.
They wanted a party that wouldn’t tear itself apart in pursuit of personal ambition, or to feed a frenzied media.
They voted for someone who would put their country first. Someone who would be a leader - not a lunatic.
They were tired of the Boris Johnsons, allowing his team to party while the country locked down.
Of the Liz Trusses, crashing the market and sending mortgage rates soaring in the reckless pursuit of an economic experiment.
Or a Nigel Farage, leading the charge for a Brexit that sent immigration soaring and then blaming everyone but himself.
To my MPs I say this - if you want melodrama and infighting: join another party.
Britain doesn’t want it. They want stability.
Those on the sidelines are trying to divide our nation. From the right and from the left, they stoke culture wars that tear families apart.
They try to drag American-style debates and Middle East wars into our dining room conversations.
They don’t want to fix the country. They want it to stay broken.
I want to fix things. I am fixing things.
I told you it wouldn’t happen overnight. But it is happening.
To the country, my message is simple.
I am not doing this job to be popular.
I did not choose this job to make friends.
I’m doing it because I can see a route to fixing this country - this country that has been so badly let down by decades of careerist leaders.
I believe there is a path between the extremes. One that promotes ambition, prosperity and growth - but also fairness, and justice for all.
And I think that’s what the majority of decent Brits want too.
This government is fixing things. Things are getting better. And if you don’t feel it today, I promise you that you will feel it soon.
Let us stick with the plan.
We are stabilising the economy, cutting spending without using the blunt instrument of austerity.
We are fixing a broken immigration system, not through cruel and dangerous, ICE-style raids - but with a sensible, fair approach that’s really working.
We’re taking criminals off the streets with more police officers on the streets, more prison spaces, and faster sentencing for criminals.
Change is happening.
We’re breaking down the division and the rot.
The Britain that you remember is coming back.
You don’t have to like me. But I am getting on with the job for you, for your family, for my family, and for this country. Just like you elected me to do.