Leave support is falling. That’s an opportunity the PM should seize before pro-Europe challengers for the Labour leadership do
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even years ago, it took just eight words to electrify the Labour conference and to show the party was falling out of love with its then leader. Although not exactly the kind of soaring oratory that gets reproduced on T-shirts, the words were greeted with wild cheering as most of the hall rose in spontaneous acclamation.
As the commotion died down, Keir Starmer, then Brexit spokesman, stood at the podium, blinking in surprise. He wasn’t really accustomed to his speeches having such an effect. All he had said was: “Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.” But context is everything.
During that darkly divisive time of 2018, departing from his agreed text in this way was always going to be seen as laying down the gauntlet to Jeremy Corbyn, who was trying to prioritise leave supporters in working-class seats over the pro-European instincts of his party. In just one speech, this grey-suited shadow Brexit secretary was transformed – if only for a while – into a risk-taker who would stand up for most Labour MPs, members and voters against a leader he would later replace.
