‘Quiet revolutionary Keir Starmer genuinely believes victory is within his grasp’

Keir Starmer is the quiet revolutionary.

The party he addressed today could not be more different from the one which gathered to hear Jeremy Corbyn when Labour last met in Liverpool in 2018.

Four years’ ago you would never have imagined Labour delegates cheering Nato or applauding the role of business.

Starmer spoke to a party he has revolutionised and which is now one very much in his own making: workmanlike, disciplined and focused.

If he seemed assured and confident it was with good reason.

He has changed Labour from being a party of protest to being a party ready for power.

But the greatest change he was brought about is psychological.

For the first time in more than a decade Labour genuinely believes victory is within its grasp.

Starmer spoke a lot about alternative energy supplies but the energy which powered him yesterday was this new found sense of belief.

He used his speech not just to demonstrate that Labour was back in the centre ground but to occupy the territory Liz Truss has foolishly vacated.

Labour can now claim with justification to be the party of aspiration, enterprise and home ownership.

Such is Starmer’s confidence he was even prepared to take the fight to the Tories on Brexit.

The Labour leader is so unflashy that he sees ordinariness as a virtue.

But he’s plausible, sensible and dependable.

Compared with the chaos of the Conservatives these qualities are not just appealing – they could be enough to propel Labour to government.