Breathing space for Starmer, MPs in a hurry and the Pedro Sanchez strategy: our top 5 takeaways from the Labour Party Conference

1. Starmer found his voice. Just as attacks on his leadership reached a crescendo, the Prime Minister fought back by laying into “snake oil merchants” on both the left and right. Defending multiculturalism in unusually passionate terms, he delivered his strongest condemnation yet of Nigel Farage and did enough to quell any threat to his position – for the time being. Even Diane Abbott liked it. Leadership pretender Andy Burnham was seen quietly exiting the conference centre, without giving interviews. Nevertheless, mixed messaging prevails on exactly where the party stands on immigration, with Labour ministers simultaneously pledging tighter controls and branding Reform UK’s anti-immigration policies as racist.

2. Universities for not quite all. In a landmark policy change, Labour scrapped a Blair- era target of 50% of young people going to university. This has been replaced with a target of two thirds either taking up apprenticeships or full-time education. Ministers believe three years in an ivory tower for all is old hat in preparing for the modern economy. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, told guests at the party’s business reception that the change was an employer-friendly step in building a skilled workforce – just as, she said, free childcare for parents of primary-age kids was beneficial in freeing up employment for all.

3. Why does everything take so long? A common gripe from new Labour MPs is that the machinery of government is too slow. At a forum for backbenchers organised by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, MPs bemoaned the “sclerotic” nature of government, with endless consultations and parliamentary process standing in the way of the big-picture change promised at the election. David Baines, a new MP for St Helens North, said his most exciting day in parliament was passing an emergency bill in a single day to save British Steel. Meanwhile, he pointed out, a much talked about Bill to deliver employment rights is still winding its way through the legislature and is not yet law. Hinkley Point power station will take 20 years from conception to delivering electricity into the grid, and three decades of discussion about a new runway at Heathrow continues. “The expectation is speed,” he said, in an era of TikTok-style attention spans.

4. Seeking solace from abroad. Fresh from a thumping re-election, the Australian PM Anthony Albanese was a special guest in Liverpool (to the disdain of his domestic critics who accused him of ‘swanning around the world with his left-wing mates at taxpayers’ expense’). Starmer’s team, facing gloomy polls, are pushing the message that all is not lost, and that voting has never been more volatile – in his conference speech, Deputy PM David Lammy noted that progressive governments have staged dramatic comebacks to win from seemingly terminal positions in Norway (16 points behind), Canada (20 points behind) and Australia (10 points behind).

5. It’s a binary choice. An emerging strategy from Labour is to tell the public it’s a binary choice – Labour or Reform. The Prime Minister barely mentioned the official Conservative opposition in his speech, let alone the Liberal Democrats or the Greens. Instead, the message was – Labour is the only thing standing between Britain and a hard-right government. Patrick English of YouGov reckons this may have some merit – when alternatives are stripped out and voters are presented with a binary choice of a Labour government or a Reform UK government, Labour wins by 43% to 37%. Labour strategists have been eyeing Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, a master at marshalling an unenthusiastic coalition of grudging progressives to keep out the right.

Labour will take heart from its conference. A sharper tone from the Prime Minister has coincided with the arrival of Tim Allan, a former adviser to Tony Blair, as Downing Street’s new communications supremo.

But with asylum still a toxic issue and a difficult Budget due in November, the warm glow of Liverpool may not last long. Rud Pedersen’s team will be in Manchester next week to see whether the opposition leader Kemi Badenoch can snatch back the initiative at the Conservative Party Conference.