UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer addresses the Labour Conference at ACC Liverpool in Liverpool, England. Photo / Getty Images
Sir Keir Starmer declared that Labour would “never surrender” the country’s flag as he launched an attack on Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Speaking on the third day of the Labour conference in Liverpool, the British Prime Minister pledged to renew the country “with the flag in our hands”.
In his most direct attack on Farage to date, Starmer mocked the Reform leader as “a snake-oil salesman” who was touting “miracle cures” that would not solve the nation’s problems.
Minutes after the speech, Farage hit back, calling it a “desperate last throw of the dice” and accusing Starmer of inciting violence against Reform.
Starmer is attempting to seize back the initiative following a tumultuous few weeks in which he has lost Angela Rayner, his Deputy Prime Minister, Peter Mandelson, the ambassador to the US, and a swathe of Downing Street advisers. He has also faced criticism from leadership rival Andy Burnham, while Labour continues to trail Reform in the polls.
Addressing flag-waving conference delegates and Cabinet members, Starmer said: “Let’s fly all our flags, conference, because they are our flags. They belong to all of us, and we will never surrender them. Let’s unite our country behind them, because this is no time for dividers.
“This is the time for bringing the whole country together. That’s how we will fight next year’s elections – as patriots of our great nations.”
This summer has seen flags raised and painted in public places under the Operation Raise the Colours campaign, as well as far-right protests organised by Tommy Robinson that featured Union flags and St George’s crosses in large numbers.
The Prime Minister has been working on his conference speech for three weeks, with aides saying he has been determined to take the battle to Reform and win back the working-class vote.
Downing Street insiders believe that framing the next general election as a straight choice between Farage and Starmer will swing wavering voters towards Labour.
Turning up the heat on Reform, Starmer said: “We can all see these snake oil merchants, on the right, on the left – but be in no doubt, conference, none of them have any interest in national renewal, because decline is good for their business.
“When was the last time you heard Nigel Farage say anything positive about Britain’s future? He can’t. He doesn’t like Britain, doesn’t believe in Britain, wants you to doubt it as much as he does. And so he resorts to grievance.
“They all do it. They want to turn this country – this proud, self-reliant country – into a competition of victims.”
Farage fired back, holding a snap press conference moments after the address, in which he described it as “a desperate last throw of the dice from a Prime Minister who is in deep trouble”.
The Reform leader said: “Starmer says I don’t like or love this country. Well, let me say this – for 30 years I fought for British sovereignty. I fought for us to be a self-governing nation. Why? Because I also believed the best things to govern Britain were the British people.”
Accusing Starmer of inciting violence against Reform, he added: “Now, I don’t normally worry about abuse being thrown at me – I’ve got kind of used to it over the course of the last few years. But to accuse countless millions of being racist is a very, very low blow.
“Why? Well, this language will incite and encourage the radical left. I’m thinking of Antifa and other organisations like that.
“It directly threatens the safety of our elected officials and our campaigners and frankly, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk murder, I think this is an absolute disgrace.”
The Conservatives went almost unmentioned by Starmer, who triggered a laugh in the Liverpool conference hall when he said: “The Tories ... remember them?”
The speech was light on policy announcements, though the Prime Minister did abandon Sir Tony Blair’s ambition of getting 50% of young people to attend university.
Instead, a new two-thirds target has been adopted for young people to be either in university or a “gold standard apprenticeship” – an attempt to grow vocational training.
The Prime Minister also spoke to voter disillusionment by saying too much faith had been put in globalisation and the status quo must not be defended. Yet his standout lines, which triggered standing ovations, came when he directly took on Farage and what he described as his divisive approach to politics.
Starmer said: “Let me tell you, I also know what I stand against. And I have had enough of lectures from self-appointed champions of working people who want to shred our public services, level down worker rights, crash the economy like Liz Truss.
“Politicians who lied to this country, unleashed chaos, and walked away after Brexit. Who equivocate on Putin and Ukraine. Who even now go to America and grub around for money, talking this great country down. No. No more lectures from them.”
Starmer’s address contained admissions of failure from the political class in the past – an apparent attempt to speak to the disillusionment of the electorate with mainstream parties.
He said: “The global financial crisis is when we were exposed, when a new Britain should have been born. Complacent. That’s the only way to describe it – complacent. We placed too much faith in globalisation.”
On Labour, he said: “We had become a party that patronised working people, and that is why we changed the party.”
There were passing references, too, to challenging decisions ahead, with the Budget – due to take place on November 26 – at which around £30 billion ($69.5b) in extra annual revenue will need to be raised.
Starmer, who named boosting economic growth as his priority, said the path to improving Britain was “long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy”.
He ended with a riff on the speech’s theme – “renew Britain” – with an argument that Britain was not broken, saying: “I believe Britain can come together. We can pursue a shared destination. We can unite around a common cause. That’s my ambition, the purpose of this Government.”
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