Britain | The smoked-salmon offensive

After a frosty decade, business leaders are warming to the Labour Party

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, promises stability in place of turmoil

As the labour party gathers for its annual conference in Liverpool, attention will focus on the lecture hall, where Sir Keir Starmer will insist that the party he leads is ready for office. But a truer indicator of how British politics is changing will be found on the sidelines, at a small gathering of business leaders and the shadow cabinet on September 26th. Tickets for that event sold out in July.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The smoked-salmon offensive”

Should Europe worry?

From the September 24th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Someone with their eyes blindfolded

Are British voters as clueless as Labour’s intelligentsia thinks? 

How the idea of false consciousness conquered the governing party

A nurse attending to a pateient behind curtains, the light coming through the blinds

Blighty newsletter: Starmer’s silence puts the assisted-dying bill at risk


The best British companies to work for to get ahead

A new ranking of firms by pay, promotions and hiring practices


How the best British employers find and promote their staff

No degree? Some employers care much less than others

A Northern Irish experiment in recycling

The tiny island aiming to get to net zero

A sticking-plaster policy for Britain’s strained courts

Magistrates get more power. Will they get punch-drunk on it?