Memo to Keir: the three things to remember before you give the speech of a lifetime

As the prime minister prepares to address a restive party at this year's Labour conference, here's a note that might help

- Philip Collins

At the summit of politics, August is the cruellest month. Time off beckons, but the world has a stubborn habit of going on. Britain's entry into the Great War, the partition of India and the death of Diana all happened in an August. This year there is the looming threat of riots in the summer heat, it is hospitable weather for travel by small boat, and the vice-president of the United States of America is pottering around the Cotswolds. For the prime minister, August should mean working through the summer box, a period of serious reflection not very well dressed up as a holiday.

Every year at least some members of the class of commentators offer the lazy opinion that Starmer, or Badenoch, or whoever, faces the speech of their lifetime at the forthcoming party conference. Well, make no mistake about it: Sir Keir Starmer faces the speech of his lifetime at the Labour party conference in Liverpool at the end of September. It is remarkable that a prime minister with a 174-seat majority should have the critics at his door feverishly suggesting that he might not fight the next election, but he does. He needs to bring this to a full stop.

Opportunities for Starmer to define his government have drifted in and out of focus: the opening days in office, the first budget, the investment summit, the unveiling of the industrial strategy have all come and gone unadorned by a story that lingers in the memory. This summer marks the start of the second political cycle of the term and heavy expectations now weigh on the conference to come. The preparation starts now.