Is ‘hope’ enough to run a country?
John Healey gave a speech at the 2026 Labour conference that was big on hope, small on ideas. Has the government changed under Andy Burnham, or are we being sold the same old thing?
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What’s the story?
Can you govern a country on hope? That is what Labour seems to be promising at its 2026 conference.
Its new slogan, ‘hope again’ was emblazoned across the Liverpool venue and marks Andy Burnham’s first conference as leader, since ousting Keir Starmer in July.
The News Agents say there was no mourning for the loss of Labour’s former leader and Prime Minister on its first day of conference.
“Kier, who? What was his name? That bloke. He used to be here,” jokes Jon Sopel.
“He seems to be totally forgotten about, and there is no sense of absence.”
For Lewis Goodall, the conference hums with a "palpable sense of relief" at its new Prime Minister.
That relief, he says, stems back to Burnham's win in the Makerfield by-election, and how, if his political gamble had not paid off, Labour voters would be lining up to once again listen to Starmer.
“The Labour Party was seriously considering whether it had a future as a viable live political force, that's not how it feels now,” Lewis says.
“Burnham has guaranteed them, at least for now, a second hearing, if not a second coming.”
In October, Burnham will show his hand when he unveils his ten-year plan for the future of this Labour government – if it stays in power.
John Healey: A commitment to nothing?
The conference was also a first for John Healey, who addressed party members for the first time since becoming Burnham’s chancellor, replacing Rachel Reeves.
Healey delivered a speech written to inspire hope in listeners, but it was one that was empty of ideas.
In a downbeat moment, Healey addressed the differences in society since the last Labour government of the 1990s, and how great the UK's financial struggles are today.
Lewis says Healey did all he could to not "commit" to anything, other than the proverbial 'hope', speaking of rising debt and spiralling costs.
“It very well encapsulated the slightly odd tension at the heart of this conference,” says Lewis.
“Beyond the slightly florid rhetoric and a lot of the Labour mythos to tickle the tummy of the party faithful. Actually, what you saw was a Chancellor basically saying; it ain't 1997 again.
“This budget is going to be tough.”
This was a Chancellor, Lewis adds, preparing his party for some "tough medicine" ahead.
But the real target of Healey's speech, Jon says, wasn't the party members in the room, it was bond markets, and he wanted to do everything he could to reassure those in the financial industry that Burnham's Labour would play safe, and stick to the fiscal rules.
“He wanted to deliver a slightly boring speech, an uneventful speech, which people wouldn't get too excited about,” says Jon.
It was the same speech, The News Agents say, that Rachel Reeves would have given if she was still chancellor – albeit without the repeated mention of the 'miner's lamp' Healey keeps in his home.
What did this tell us about Burnham's Labour, and the party’s future?
The ‘Burnham bounce’ is real. Under Stamer, Labour and every other political party in the UK was being trounced in opinion polls by Nigel Farage and Reform UK.
Now, with a new, energetic and social media-friendly leader (and a dose or two of very bad press for Reform), that playing field is once again levelled.
But can this be maintained, and can Burnham achieve anything in a country in such a poor state?
“Burnham has got tremendous energy,” Lewis says.
“He clearly has things he wants to do, especially on things like social care, but he does feel hemmed in by the constraints of the 2024 manifesto and the commitment not to increase the top rates of tax.
“These same structural constraints, which forced Starmer and Reeves to do things that they didn't want to do and which, to some extent, guaranteed their demise, are now afflicting Healey and Burnham.”
Healey stepped down as defence secretary under Keir Starmer, yet as chancellor under Burnham, stood on the conference stage and spoke of the same financial restraints that held back the previous Labour front bench.
“We've got the same box of goodies – debt too high, the cost of government borrowing too high, the impossibility of reforming welfare,” Jon says.
“Andy Burnham has put it in nice wrapping paper with a ribbon and bow, but it's the same situation, the box inside hasn't changed at all.”