Ayesha Hazarika
(Picture: Daniel Hambury)Liz Truss was always Labour’s preferred candidate to win the Tory leadership race because they finally get to face someone who they think they can beat. And it’s not just Labour strategists and the polls — Tories from all wings of the party feel like this could be the beginning of the end.
The party is divided on fundamentals like how to reduce energy bills, tax cuts and how much to borrow. The result of the leadership contest was closer than anyone predicted, which means there are many Rishi Sunak allies lurking on the backbenches ready to crow “I told you so” when things go wrong.
Truss also doesn’t have the technicolour personality of her predecessor, Boris Johnson, who could get away with anything. Well, almost. She doesn’t have the same claim to that 2019 landslide — that very much belonged to him. Her painful lack of oratory skills is also a bonus for Starmer. Labour may be ahead in the polls and feeling pretty chipper but they would be wrong to be complacent or underestimate any political opponent, particularly with the guile and ambition of Truss.
Starmer must not patronise or be gratuitously rude to her — especially as she’s the third female Tory to become leader — and there have been more men called Keir who have led Labour than women.
The Right will be waiting to pounce on Starmer for any signs of sexism. He must be courteous but relentless, with a laser focus on the policies and decisions that will inevitably go wrong. It would be hard for anyone right now. But someone promising huge tax cuts in the middle of an inflation crisis as public services are crumbling just won’t work. As a Labour source told me, “they will fail on the weight of their own contradictions — let them get on with it.”
But I don’t think that’s enough. Labour can’t just wait for the Tories to crash themselves or the country any more and be passive observers — they need to be active agitators hungry for change and they need to tell us night and day what they would do differently. Freezing energy bills and the windfall tax have been good calls and have cut through, but we need more.
If Labour wants an election now, tell us what we would be voting for.
Labour also must fight like the underdog, regardless of what the polls say. Truss may get a bounce after she unveils her new energy policy and will have the weight of the establishment behind her. We need to see and hear Starmer and key senior figures on the airwaves until we are sick of them.
The party has some real talent and experience in its ranks, from Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner to Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. Contrast this with a Cabinet which contains Jacob Rees-Mogg and Suella Braverman.
Truss may be the source of many a meme but she’s no fool. She’s a canny political operator but she is also beatable. Labour needs to act like the general election is upon us and get on a war footing now.
