The Labour party returns to Liverpool this weekend for its annual five-day jamboree. Twelve months after a dismal conference, dominated by discussion about donations, drift and dire decisions, most party activists will be disappointed that the situation has not improved. In 2024, the story was Sue Gray, Lord Alli and ‘freebiegate’; in 2025, it will be the futures of Keir Starmer and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. Both men are under intense pressure, amid doubts about their chosen political strategy. ‘It’s going to be a shitshow,’ says one MP who has decided to skip the conference. A number of colleagues are choosing to do the same: emblematic of the party’s loss of faith in the Prime Minister.

Starmer’s vulnerability has created a vacuum which others appear keen to fill. Andy Burnha

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