It will feel personal for the prime minister whose judgement has been attacked in recent days following the loss of his US ambassador, Peter Mandelson, and his deputy, Angela Rayner, leading to a major ministerial reshuffle.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir has also seen the departure of a number of key aides from Downing Street as he seeks to bolster his communications strategy, which appears to be failing to cut through with swathes of the British public if dire opinion polls for the party are any indication.<\/p>\n
It is not just opinion polls – the prime minister will also need to steer his government through a very difficult budget in November, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves signalling she is likely to need to raise taxes to deal with the worsening economic forecast.<\/p>\n
A brief preview of the speech released to reporters in advance indicates that Sir Keir will seek to appeal to those beyond Labour, including those who have never voted for the party, and ask people to question whose side are they on \u2013 his or Reform’s.<\/p>\n
“It is a test. A fight for the soul of our country, every bit as big as rebuilding Britain after the war, and we must all rise to this challenge,” he will say, warning that the goal will not be achieved without a cost.<\/p>\n
“We need to be clear that our path, the path of renewal, it’s long, it’s difficult, it requires decisions that are not cost-free or easy,” he is expected to say.<\/p>\n
“Decisions – that will not always be comfortable for our party. Yet at the end of this hard road there will be a new country, a fairer country, a land of dignity and respect.”<\/p>\n
He will also talk about rebuilding, in a nod to Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s postwar government’s programme of new towns, which fixed the devastation wreaked by bombs as well as poverty.<\/p>\n