With Tories stealing some of Labour's best clothes, Starmer needs a change of gear | Anne McElvoy

Being dull but safe won't help Keir Starmer pull off a big win over the Conservatives. He needs to offer meatier fare than thatHow dull can an opposition party be and still command the kinetic energy to win an election that requires a swing of up to 13 percentage points? Especially as the haul of seats it would need for an outright majority - given its dreadful losses in England in 2019, the SNP's troubled but hardy grip on Scotland and the fact of fewer Welsh MPs being returned to Westminster - approaches the 145 gained by Tony Blair in the 1997 landslide.Elections do not always vindicate early predictions. Much can happen between now and the election deadline of January 2026 (which effectively means going to the polls in the latter half of next year) that makes yesterday's "impossible" look like tomorrow's "told you so". It would, however, be unwise for Labour to rely, as one of its sharpest advisers on strategy succinctly puts it, on "Tories being crap and Labour being a bit less crap". Continue reading...