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That was quite the week for Labour in Liverpool. Sir Keir Starmour on the front foot defending his leadership.

Nigel Farage and Reform in his sights, the Tories effectively ignored, flags well and truly flown.

Just a couple of days ago, it did look as though the Prime Minister's time in number 10 could be cut short. But he's seen off, Andy Burnham short-lived manoeuvring and many commentators and critics seem to think he's done enough to steady the ship for now. I'm Mark Carruthers, and on today's red lines, we're looking at where Labour's positioning itself in the national debate, and what that means for the politics of this place, few would dispute that Northern Ireland was very much a fringe issue in Liverpool over the past few days.

Joining me to discuss all of that and more, News Nights political editor Nick Watt, Professor John Tongue from the University of Liverpool, Tina McKenzie from the Federation of Small Businesses, who met the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and the Prime Minister this week, Tom Kelly, who was Tony Blair's official spokesperson when he was Prime Minister, and of course our political editor, Enda McClafferty. So welcome to all of you and thanks for making time for us today. Nick,

what, first of all, did Keir Starrmer do enough in his leader's speech yesterday to see off his

critics and connect with voters? Well, I think, Mark, that Keir Starrmer has stabilized his position.

I mean, I've been reporting for a good few weeks, indeed few months, about how many

Labour MPs, including loyalists, include ministers who are very supportive of Kirstama,

have started to harbour very serious doubts about his ability to connect and indeed his ability

to actually run a tight ship in Downing Street.

So that speech mattered.

And what I was picking up afterwards from across the conference was,

oh, he's found his voice, there was some passion there.

And he began to sort of frame the argument, taking on reformers,

the principal opponents.

And essentially saying that if you have concerns about border security, Labour's on your side, but if you espouse policies that are racist, then we, the Labour government, will call you out. So there's a feeling that the Prime Minister has found his voice, but there are still critics and still

very deep worries about the elections next May, Senate elections in Wales and the

Hollywood elections in Scotland. Yeah, and we'll come on to talk about all of that later in

this conversation. Nick, just before I move on to some of the others who are joining us today,

how do you think he found his voice?

I saw one article suggesting it was because he'd put so much effort into writing his speech himself.

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