Labour Party conference – live: Starmer warns MPs ‘don’t get giddy’ as he vows not to repeat past mistakes
Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer has warned his party not to become “giddy” at the conference today despite the by-election triumph this weekend.
The party’s members gather in Liverpool enjoying consistent double-digit poll leads over the Tories and buoyed by the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election triumph over the SNP, but Sir Keir warned against complacency.
“It is not going to be giddy, it is not going to be ‘job done’,” Sir Keir told the Observer.
“So you won’t get razzmatazz. You won’t see mistakes that have been made in the past by opposition parties.”
As activists gathered for what could be the final Labour conference before the election expected next year, Sir Keir said the party would make the “positive case for change”.
It comes as eminent barrister Marina Wheeler KC, Boris Johnson’s former wife, is to be appointed Labour’s “whistleblowing tsar” to advise on their reforms.
Ms Wheeler is the second high-profile woman to take a key job with Keir Starmer’s team.
