Starmer Echoes 1997 Blair as Labour Kicks Off Bid for Power
- Opposition leader adds migration to priorities before UK vote
- Aims to oust Sunak’s Tories in election expected in the autumn
Keir Starmer fired the starting gun on his bid to be Labour’s first leader since Tony Blair to win a UK general election with a string of a endorsements from across society and an unmistakable throwback to the totemic former premier’s campaign play book: a promise to change Britain.
“I’m not prepared to see a Labour government that doesn’t materially improve our country,” Starmer told an audience in Essex on Thursday. At what was effectively Labour’s first campaign rally ahead of a general election expected in the autumn, the poll-leading opposition leader set out what he called his “first steps for change,” a list of priorities the party will emphasize as it tries to oust the Conservative Party from power after 14 years.