‘Keir Starmer working at personal tempo – however he has a plan and he is sticking to it’

Keir Starmer likes to work at his own pace. And sometimes that can be exasperatingly sedate.

When he was leader of the opposition, his critics said he was spending too much time sorting out Labour’s internal problems and not enough speaking to the nation. Then he was accused of being too slow to close the Tories’ lead in the polls and taking too long to regain voters’ trust.

This was followed by criticism that Labour hadn’t anything positive to offer and he needed to be bolder in the run up to the election. Starmer was aware of these noises off but they didn’t deter him. He knew it would take time to overhaul Labour so it was in a position to win an election again.

He knew it would take even longer to win back trust and he knew the best time to set your policies is when you’ve earned the audience’s attention. The Prime Minister has not changed since entering Number 10. He’s still working at his own tortoise-like pace. But he has a plan and he is sticking to it.

His speech on Tuesday was deliberately downbeat. Starmer wanted to reinforce the point that Labour’s grim inheritance from the Tories will require difficult choices on spending, welfare and taxes. Anyone hoping for free ice creams, permanent sunshine and for life to get instantly better will be disappointed.

But that was also the point of his speech. He was not going to repeat the mistake of Boris Johnson, who promised new hospitals, rebuilt communities and post-Brexit prosperity which were never delivered. Starmer takes a more Puritan approach than cavalier Johnson. Under his hair-shirt regime there will be no short cuts and false dawns, just the hard grind of rebuilding the country.

As any gardener will tell you, you need to clear weeds, till the ground and nurture the plants before you can enjoy the fruits of your labour. Starmer is prepared to be equally diligent before voters see the fruits of his Labour administration.

What worries some Labour MPs is that the public, worn down by 14 years of austerity, low growth and stagnant wages, are impatient for the change they were promised. They have heard the first part of Starmer’s message, that tough times are ahead, but not the second part – that their efforts will be rewarded.

The danger for the PM is he has set the tone for the next few years and his time in office will be regarded as at best the “meh” parliament and at worst, the “miserable parliament”. Will this concern Starmer? Probably not. He’s proved his critics wrong before and he’s confident he can prove them wrong again.