Change is needed on multiple fronts in this country but we cannot expect results overnight

It is something that our new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer alluded in his speech on the doorstep of 10 Down Street.

Firstly, Sir Keir Starmer should be congratulated on his party’s huge landslide victory. As Rishi Sunak said in his final statement as PM “his successes will be all our successes”.

However, there is a desperate sense of a need for national renewal. Labour’s majority, as impressive as it is, comes with the caveat that there was still widespread apathy. A lot of its gains were by default with the Tories in disarray.

The new PM is right to say that politics can be a force for good and his pledge to show the people that is to be welcomed. As is his attempt to reach out to all voters, not just those who put their trust in Labour.

Service was the buzzword in Starmer’s speech outside Number 10. He promised to return politics to public service.

The PM said “our work is urgent and we begin it today”. However, it is worth remembering that change cannot be delivered overnight. Especially when there is a huge list of issues that need to be addressed. And as the Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines, writes in today’s Yorkshire Post, “realism dictates also that we must take a long-term view of change”.

Starmer also said that there needed to be “a rediscovery of who we are” as a nation. This is particularly important given the march of Reform UK, which secured four seats.

As for the Tories, this should be seen as a long overdue opportunity for introspection. The party simply cannot go on the way that it has over the past decade.

It is a sad irony for this once great party that the only time its stock has gone up in recent years is after its defeat and the humility shown by Sunak.

The now former PM was right to apologise and to accept his and his party’s failing. The Tories would do well to take on board Sunak’s words and use them as the basis for a reset of the party.

The Conservatives need to reconnect with their core values but in the aftermath of this defeat they need to show genuine contrition.

There has been far too much emphasis on infighting and phoney culture wars, while ordinary people struggle to put food on their table.

The centre ground is where it will have electoral success from once again. By repositioning the party to the centre, it would snuff out Reform UK’s momentum and help build a new political consensus.

Engaging with Nigel Farage’s agenda is a zero sum game and will only do more damage to the party. The Tories need only look at the seats it lost to the Lib Dems. The next Tory leader must avoid the temptation of kowtowing to Farage.

The likes of Liz Truss and Jacob Rees-Moggs were not victims of poor decision making by Sunak. They were architects of their own and their party’s downfall.

The party must now think long and hard before fighting over who should be the next leader. It haemorrhaged a lot of experience when previous leaders decided to eject titans who had long and distinguished ministerial careers behind them. The Tories need talented people with real life experience. changing the leader will not be enough.

While there has rightly been a lot of criticism levelled against Sunak, it is worth saying that he is indeed a decent man, who just happened to receive the “worst hospital pass” any incoming PM could have received.