John McDonnell started his Labour conference speech with a tribute to his ‘friend’ Jeremy Corbyn, praising the way in which the Labour leader had held his nerve while being attacked in the press. As united as the two men may be, the Shadow Chancellor certainly gave the impression today that the Conservatives would have much more reason to fear a McDonnell-led Labour. His speech contained a cogent analysis of where things were going wrong for the British economy, and a clear explanation of what Labour would do to fix those problems.
One of the things that Labour strategists have picked up from recent focus groups in the key seats – particularly towns – where the party needs to do better is a scepticism from voters about the party’s ability to deliver on its promises. Sections of McDonnell’s speech were clearly designed to respond to this, including where he said that: ‘We are planned, we are ready, we are prepared not just to win another election campaign, but to implement that programme when we win that election campaign.’
He reiterated a number of crowd-pleasers from his Brighton conference speech last year, including the renationalisation of a number of utilities, promising as the crowd cheered lustily that this would also result in higher standards from these services.
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