Is Keir Starmer ready for office?

It is 26 years since Labour last wrested power from the Conservatives in a British general election. At the moment Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, is on course to emulate Sir Tony Blair’s achievement in 1997. The next election must happen by January 2025 and is likely to take place sooner. Labour enjoys a big, if narrowing, poll lead and has positioned itself assiduously as a government-in-waiting. That alone is remarkable. Sir Keir became the party’s leader in 2020, soon after Jeremy Corbyn had led Labour to its worst electoral defeat since 1935. Labour has been greatly helped by the Tories’ haplessness in office; even so, to have a good chance of winning is a huge turnaround.But to take power, Labour still needs to persuade voters of three things. First, that it is genuinely competent. Second, that it is not a bunch of closet Corbynites, touting pro-business policies before the election and unfurling red flags after it. Third, and most important, that it has ideas for how to fix some of the entrenched problems that Britain faces. On the first two, Sir Keir has good answers. On the third, work is needed.