Keir Starmer has left Anas Sarwar with a mountain of work in Scotland - and no idea if PM is good at politics

After four nights at Labour party conference, I am once again grappling with one of life’s great mysteries. Specifically, is Sir Keir Starmer good at politics?

Let’s look at the evidence. He won the Labour leadership, was victorious in a general election and took the party from its worst result since 1935 to one of its best ever in the process. He has undeniably transformed Labour from a party of protest to one of government, and done so in an extraordinarily short amount of time.

But is he good? Because despite all the clear and evident progress, nearly 90 days on from the general election result, I still can’t answer whether he’s a canny political operator, or if this is, to an extent, a massive fluke. Politics is not just about winning, that’s easy. Governing is harder.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar speaks during the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool

It’s impossible to consider his political nous without looking at his propensity to say yes to whatever is offered to him, being a leader who has taken more freebies than any other.

He’s also a Prime Minister who has purged his party of dissidents, rather than bring them with him, a force for change who’s insistent it’s gradual, placing a financial straightjacket on himself to look serious rather than behave as such.

Labour conference should have been a victory lap and a road map for the future, and instead it was questions about freebies and donations.

Watching his speech at Labour conference, things weren’t any clearer. The rhetoric was lovely, sure, and it got lots of standing ovations, as these things tend to do. But what does this actually mean for policy? In short, nothing, because he won’t say anything of substance before the Budget on October 30. Still, we’ll always have the moment he called to “release the sausages”.

In Sir Keir’s defence, he has five years to deliver change, and his first conference speech doesn’t have to set everything out. But for Anas Sarwar and the Scottish Labour party, time is considerably more of the essence.

Following the election result, which saw 37 Labour MPs elected, there was initially a presumption that Scottish Labour were now guaranteed to sweep Holyrood come 2026, despite the complicated voting system. Since the result, however, Sir Keir’s approval rating has plummeted, and so has his party’s reputation in Scotland, with their lead evaporating.

Speak to Scottish Labour figures and they’ll defend the Prime Minister, point to their recent manifesto when asked about a lack of policy, and reiterate the strong platform they have to build on ahead of the Holyrood election. But what they won’t be able to say is how much GB Energy will save Scots, how many jobs its placement in Scotland will create, and when they’ll be able to stop means testing the winter fuel allowance.

Therein lies further complications on the question as to whether Sir Keir is good or not. His messaging has worked at UK politics and, while it has taken votes off the SNP in Westminster, polling suggests he is not on track to deliver the same level of success in Holyrood.

Next month’s UK Budget is beyond important. It will show us actual policy, define the offer Scottish Labour is making, and provide more insight on if Sir Keir is actually good at this.