The opposition leader might think he is treading the road to government, but he is surrounded by people mapping routes for his successor
A national fuel crisis coinciding with Labour’s annual conference was good and bad news for Keir Starmer. The bad news was that most of the country was too busy worrying about petrol supplies to notice what the opposition was doing in Brighton. Or maybe that was the good news.
On balance, it helps when the Tories spectacularly fail at running the country. Flagrant uselessness in a government is a vital step towards persuading people to vote for a replacement. But it is not sufficient. The opposition has to look ready.