British PM Starmer buys himself time by punching back at Farage

LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was battling for his future a week ago. After the retreat of his main Labour rival and his decision to take the gloves off against populist rival Nigel Farage, Mr Starmer has shored up his standing.

His party’s annual conference in Liverpool had threatened to be a pressure cooker of discontent with the embattled premier. Instead, a barnstorming speech left his internal rivals humbled and the party unified behind him – for now. 

Government ministers, members of Parliament and delegates who spoke to Bloomberg News assessed Mr Starmer as being in a more comfortable place than he started going into a gathering of party faithful.

While the danger to the premier is by no means gone – he faces a nightmarish budget in November, and tricky local elections in May 2026 – he managed to quiet speculation about his position.

In his keynote address on Sept 30, Mr Starmer used a rhetoric-heavy if policy-light speech to appeal to working-class Britons to stick with Labour against the temptations posed by critics to right and left.

He embraced progressive patriotism and questioned the allegiances of Mr Farage’s poll-topping Reform UK.

“When was the last time that you heard Nigel Farage say anything positive about Britain’s future?” the prime minister said. “He can’t. He doesn’t like Britain. He doesn’t believe in Britain.”

Going into the event, Mr Starmer had faced criticism from within his party that he lacked a clear strategy and was struggling to articulate the achievements – and even the purpose – of his administration.

Last week, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham used a series of media interviews to vie for the premier’s job, but after failing to win much backing in Liverpool he put his tilt for the leadership at least temporarily on hold. 

Mr Starmer is lucky in his enemies, a Cabinet minister told Bloomberg, arguing that the lack of organised alternative meant the premier was unlikely to face a credible challenge any time soon.

A usually critical lawmaker said the May 2026 elections would be the moment of maximum danger for the premier, but that he had bought himself at least some time.

In preparation for his conference speech, Mr Starmer and his team spent a lot of time over summer recess rethinking how to define his premiership and the message he wants to deliver, particularly when it comes to the threat of Reform, one person familiar with those discussions said.

They concluded he had to dig deeper to persuade the voters who have soured against him over the past 15 months: He had to be more muscular in his arguments against him and what the Labour party is for – and against.

Previous efforts by Labour to do so – most infamously by suggesting Mr Farage was on the side of pedophile Jimmy Savile when it came to children’s safety – had misfired. 

This week, Mr Starmer seemed to have more success.

By branding Mr Farage’s new policy to deport some legal migrants already living in Britain as “racist”, the premier landed headlines and pleased the Labour faithful. Bars in the immediate vicinity of the conference center told Bloomberg they had sold out of champagne. 

In video statement released immediately after the speech, Mr Farage accused Mr Starmer of denigrating all Reform supporters, calling the remarks “an absolute disgrace”. “This language will incite and encourage the radical left,” he said. 

Mr Farage has attempted to rewire UK politics along US lines, following President Donald Trump’s playbook to send his party surging up the polls and raising the prospect that he is a serious contender for 10 Downing Street in the next general election, due in 2029 at the latest. 

Labour has sought to question Mr Farage’s allegiance to his country, having earlier in the week accused him of taking positions supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The question I ask, seriously, of Nigel Farage and Reform is: Do they love our country? Or do they just want to stir the pot of division, because that’s what works for their interests,” Mr Starmer said in his speech.

The lack of policy substance in the speech risked disappointing some in the party who had been hoping he would announce a generous uplift in benefits for families with more than two children.

After the speech, government officials quickly made clear that was slated for November’s budget. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will have to fund the policy under the watchful eye of bond investors, though gilts were little-changed as Mr Starmer spoke.

The prime minister instead aimed his speech squarely at working class voters who might be tempted either by more left-wing contenders or Mr Farage.

He said he would drop his predecessor Tony Blair’s historic target that 50 per cent of young people should go to university replacing it with a new ambition for two-thirds to attend either university or vocational apprenticeships. Those taking the latter path should be respected just as much as university students, he said.

He reeled off past policies aimed at stabilising Britain’s economy and securing its borders, framing Labour’s approach to immigration as robust but not extreme like Reform’s. He said Labour had come to the aid of shipbuilders in Scotland and Jaguar Land Rover workers whose jobs came under threat from Mr Trump’s tariffs.

In a moment of striking imagery that will please Labour strategists, audience members waved union flags in an unashamed display of the center-left party’s patriotic credentials. “Fly those flags”, the prime minister told the conference hall.

“Starmer showed a strong, patriotic vision with clear dividing lines between us and Reform,” Labour MP Alistair Strathern told Bloomberg following the speech.

A Labour official said Mr Starmer had set out what his government was trying to achieve more clearly than ever before, arguing no one could now say they do not know what he stands for.

Mr Starmer railed against “quick fixes” such as a wealth tax, appearing to take aim not just at Mr Farage but also at rivals on the left like Mr Burnham, who left the conference before the premier’s speech.

Making an impassioned plea for the center ground, he said: “We can all see these snake-oil merchants on the right and on the left,” he said, but “none of them have any interest in national renewal because decline is good for their business.”

Following Mr Starmer’s speech, MP Georgia Gould suggested Mr Starmer had cleared the bar, even if it was a low one: “He did what he needed to do.” BLOOMBERG