“The most virulent form of attack will be the charge that Labour has no policies, or that its policies are the same as those of the Tories.” Not a comment on Sir Keir Starmer’s party but words of warning from the Labour MP Charles Clarke in January 1997 on the pages of the New Statesman. The fear was that the obvious unpopularity of the Tories alone would not be enough to win power.
Today, many believe that the Conservatives’ fate is already sealed. Despite some polls showing a small Rishi Sunak bump, Labour is 20 to 30 points ahead. “When a party is 30 points ahead, and the central issue is competence, the question of what they have to do is frankly irrelevant,” says Professor
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