Labour's new candid and confrontational mood could be the thing that saves this government | Andy Beckett

"Crises can liberate governments. Collapses in popularity, huge dilemmas about public spending, foreign policy emergencies, poll surges by opponents and the prospect of losing office: all can persuade even previously cautious administrations to change their direction and rhetoric or simply say more clearly why they are in power. Politicians sometimes enjoy being bolder. Commonly seen as always calculating and never spontaneous, some are in fact relieved to stop filtering their public words and finally speak their minds."

"At the Labour conference this week, fringe meetings were refreshingly, sometimes startlingly, full of ministers, MPs and recent government advisers talking frankly about the government's problems and the toxicity of modern politics. Even the business secretary, Peter Kyle, usually slick and studiedly unflustered, admitted at an event hosted by Labour Together that the public know that we have a big problem in the economy, and that our politics is going through turmoil."

"The most renowned example of a British government using crises to reinvent itself remains Margaret Thatcher's. At a similar stage in its life, in 1981, it had lost over a third of its original support. Like Keir Starmer's government, it was struggling to revive the economy, control inflation, raise taxes and prevent riots. Then Argentina recklessly invaded the Falklands in 1982, and Thatcher was handed an opportunity to relaunch her premiership as a shameless but powerful patriotic project."

Crises can liberate governments and prompt previously cautious administrations to change direction, adopt bolder rhetoric, or explain more clearly their reasons for power. Political leaders sometimes welcome the chance to stop filtering public words and speak their minds. Labour conference fringe meetings featured ministers, MPs and recent government advisers speaking frankly about economic problems and political toxicity. The business secretary acknowledged widespread recognition of substantial economic troubles and political turmoil. After fifteen months of understated, methodical governing, Labour is shifting toward a more urgent, potentially more realistic approach. Margaret Thatcher's relaunch after the 1982 Falklands invasion provides a classic example of crisis-driven political reinvention.

Read at www.theguardian.com