This year’s Labour conference will be about trying to persuade voters that a change of government can improve their lives

Labour must persuade voters that a change of government can improve their lives.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves believe that simply having a dedicated, unflinching activist government, with plans for housing and green investment, will attract the money Britain desperately needs.

But to do that without diverging from fiscal orthodoxy is difficult.

To win a majority he needs to be better understood, better liked.

But polls show he is not well liked, with 29% saying they liked him, but 37% disliked him.

Starmer has a complicated relationship with class, with his southern accent and sober suits.

People who work with him say his most powerful quality is his temperament.

All very creditable but voters remain unsure. There is probably nothing to be done about that. Attempts by Keir Starmer to change his style or alter his way of speaking would be met with a McFadden-like stare. We will only start to know who he really is once he’s in power. The trouble is, that uncertainty about him may be a serious road-bump on the way..