Keir Starmer’s speechwriter says conference address was too long

Tony Blair’s former speechwriter Philip Collins, who drafted current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s 90-minute address to his party conference last week, has said the speech “absolutely” went on too long.

He added that some of the sections on policy were “a little bit baggy” and “boring“.

Speaking on Politico’s Westminster Insider Podcast, Collins said:

“… the policy bits are very, very difficult to bring to life. If you don’t include them, everybody will write that you have nothing to say, that you’re empty […] those bits, if I’m critical, could have been tighter, could have been more compressed. I think they were a bit long, a little bit baggy.”

He went on: to say that Sir Keir “was getting standing ovations for things that were just basically boring lines that were meant to just take you to the next stage of the speech“ adding that “it got ridiculous”.