Did Starmer’s Speech pass the 1839 Chartist test: a ‘knife and fork’ test
Keir Starmer’s speech to the Labour Conference in Liverpool seems to have been well received on what might be described as the social democratic left. It offered some useful proposals, for example a State owned green energy company.
The problem is that the crisis is now and needs addressing now. Starmer positioned Labour as on the side of working people but he has still not addressed the seriously practical questions of support for workers taking action to defend living standards.
The journalist Aditya Chakrabortty tweeted that the issue for many is the cost of basic items and for a good number the cost of mortgages.
As the Chartist Joseph Rayner Stephens said in 1839 it is a knife and fork question, that is, can food, clothes and housing be afforded. Starmer offered some policies on these areas for the future but concrete action is also needed now.
This question of Universal Suffrage was a knife and fork question after all; this question was a bread and cheese question, notwithstanding all that had been said against it; and if any man ask him what he meant by Universal Suffrage, he would answer, that every working man in the land had a right to have a good coat to his back, a comfortable abode in which to shelter himself and his family, a good dinner upon his table, and no more work than was necessary for keeping him in health, and as much wages for that work as would keep him in plenty, and afford him the enjoyment of all the blessings of life which a reasonable man could desire. [Tremendous cheers.]
Joseph Rayner Stephens Kersal Moor 24th September 1838 (reported Northern Star)
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