Stark choice for PM after tough summer

EITHER Keir Starmer gives people hope or Nigel Farage takes the country to hell in a handcart.

- KEVIN MAGUIRE

After a boiling summer during which reason went out of the window and racism became mainstream again, optimism stayed on holiday.

The Prime Minister knows he must convince people that the country is turning a corner, or the alternative is a vicious hard-right nightmare.

Many Labour ministers and MPs, frustrated at what they feel is a lack of direction and fight in Downing Street, are demanding autumn action.

Starmer can point to four million extra NHS appointments, improved public services, more people in work and wages outpacing prices, plus economic growth above that of most of our G7 competitors.