Express reporter and Tory councillor Mieka Smiels was not impressed with Keir Starmer’s speech (Image: Getty)

As a politician, you’d think it’s the kind of speech you’d spent years dreaming of and perfecting. You’d surely want to send chills down the spine of anyone who has so much delivered a leaflet for you in your fight to get your government into power and lead the country forward.

And then instead you manage to bore the pants off most people with a load of lacklustre, autocued, previously trotted out piffle that’s most exciting element was an awkward gaffe, calling for the release of sausages from their Hamas captors.

As someone with an interest in politics, I listened. But, to be frank, I was so bored that I flicked off halfway through Keir Starmer’s first Labour Party Conference speech as Prime Minister. (I must add, in the interests of fairness and research, I have now listened to the speech in full…)

Keir Starmer took the stage at the Labour Party Conference as Prime Minister (Image: Getty)

There was lots and lots his speech covered – with Keir insisting he wanted to be a “force for good”: from his much-touted Great British Energy to an abolition of one-word Ofsted judgements to bringing rail back into public ownership. I, as a Tory, have big concerns about all this but, nonetheless, his long speech covered a lot of ground.

However, one remark from that stuck out like a sore thumb angered me – and I reckon it will have annoyed others too.

It’s not been an easy transition into power for Keir Starmer, with his top team who have been mired in accusations of sleaze and hypocrisy, thanks to their acceptance of thousands of pounds worth of freebies – from Taylor Swift tickets to free accommodation on a holiday to New York.

Couple that with their decision to slash the winter fuel allowance to millions of pensioners, many of whom now face choosing between heating and eating, and you can perhaps see why it’s been a tricky time for the new government.

Add in too Keir’s insistence that he’s “in control” after it emerged that his chief of staff Sue Gray actually earns more than him – out of the taxpayers’ purse – and it’s easy to see why Labour’s honeymoon period has been cut brutally short.

Keir will, of course, be searingly aware of the criticisms he’s faces, with his approval ratings now in apparent freefall.

I’m sure many can understand that he wouldn’t want to use his big moment to delve into these issues on stage and dwell on them – and instead wanted to concentrate on inspiring the country and explaining how exactly we’re going to get to the sunlit uplands.

But I think the way he did bear reference to the party’s recent troubles was awful, given the level of concern that’s being shown from seemingly all quarters – from pensioners themselves to charities, to those who voted for his party wanting change from what they believed to be a sleazy and corrupt Tory government.

His retort – seemingly to all that – was as dismissive as it was curt.

“It’s water off a duck’s back,” was Keir’s response to the mounting criticism in his address.

“Mere glitter on a shirt cuff,” he added for good measure. “It’s never distracted me before, and it won’t distract me now.”

And when he did actually address the most contentious decision of his parliament so far – the cruel snatching of the winter fuel payment – it was, astonishingly, to tell pensioners that they’d be “better off” under Labour.

Wow. And here we were thinking that you’d be listening and taking note. How silly!

If that’s his approach to such serious worries then crikey, perhaps he’s even more out of touch than previously feared.