What did Keir Starmer say in ‘last chance’ speech to save his premiership?

1. ‘The British people are tired of a status quo that has failed them. Change cannot come quickly enough’ This is a line that could have appeared in any Starmer speech of the last 12 months, but this time a lot of Labour MPs would have wanted something new and substantial in policy terms to back it. And there was not. Yes, there was a lot of passion, and a lot of talk about fighting on. But the only policy offerings were either not new – a youth experience scheme as part of a reset with the EU – or already effectively the case, as with the announcement that British Steel will be nationalised. If Starmer sceptics in Labour are to be mollified, there is an argument that he needed to produce a Flemish giant-sized rabbit from his metaphorical hat – something to make them sit up and think: oh, maybe this time things are different. But he did not. 2. ‘I’m not going to walk away’ Asked directly after his speech if he would fight any challenge to his leadership, Starmer said he would. He repeatedly set out the argument that any attempt to remove him would be deeply damaging to both Labour and the country more widely. “I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos as the Tories did time and again,” he said. This is an argument that many Labour MPs understand and have some sympathy with. But after such a terrible set of election results , many increasingly feel that even a roll of the dice is better than just hanging on for dear life. 3. …