"When You Lose an Election in a Democracy, You Deserve To"

"After telling his party that it was 'time to get serious' about pursuing power, he praised Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair, the only Labour leaders to have secured election victories. This is a refreshing change. After the 2010 defeat, Labour became gripped by a self-destructive compulsion for trashing its own record. Ed Miliband, and Mr Corbyn even more so, often talked as if the party's 13 years in power between 1997 and 2010 were a long and terrible mistake. This was popular with some activists, but not a formula for success at the ballot box. Why would the average voter be encouraged to choose Labour by Labour's own leaders bad-mouthing their party’s record? Labour now has a leader who expresses pride in what his party has achieved with power, an essential requisite for aspiring to hold office again." 

At The Guardian, Andrew Rawnsley reacts to Keir Starmer's first party conference speech.