UK leader Starmer aims to shed gloomy image with a key speech stressing change

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried to shake off his image as a gloom-monger on Tuesday, telling voters exhausted with politics that better times are on the way — if they swallow his recipe of short-term pain for long-term gain.

Starmer capped Labour's first annual conference since winning a landslide election victory with a speech assuring members and supporters that things will be “tough in the short term" but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Some members of the center-left party say Starmer has made that dark tunnel longer by delivering downbeat messages about the economy since becoming Britain's first Labour prime minister for 14 years in July. That and a distracting row about freebies have overshadowed what should be a celebratory gathering for thousands of party members in the northwest England port city of Liverpool.

“I know this country is exhausted by and with politics,” Starmer said. "I know that the cost-of-living crisis drew a veil over the joy and wonder in our lives and that people want respite and relief.”

He said the government will deliver positive change, but won’t offer “false hope.”

“Just because we all want low taxes and good public services, does not mean that the iron law of properly funding policies can be ignored,” Starmer said. He pledged to take “tough” decisions — code for spending restraint and likely tax increases — to achieve economic growth to fund schools, hospitals, roads, railways and more.

“The patient, calm, determined era of politics as service has begun," he said.

The government is gambling that voters will hear out Starmer’s argument and give the government time to show results. But anxiety about missteps has clouded the mood among Labour members, supporters, politicians and officials gathered beside the River Mersey in a rain-drenched Liverpool for the four-day conference.

Polls suggest Starmer's approval ratings have plummeted and public optimism in the government has shriveled.

Starmer won the election on a promise to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative governments, get Britain’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.

Since then, he has announced there is a 22-billion-pound ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government, and has warned that “things will get worse” before they get better. That has many party members worried that tax increases and spending cuts loom in the Oct. 30 budget.

Treasury chief Rachel Reeves tried to allay some of that concern on Monday, promising there would be “no return to austerity.” But the government is facing opposition over its decision to strip millions of retirees of a payment intended to help heat their homes in winter.

The party’s mood has also been dampened by a tempest over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when millions of people are struggling with the cost of living.

Starmer insists he followed the rules when he took thousands of pounds worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from Waheed Alli, a media entrepreneur and Labour donor. But after days of bad press, the party says Starmer and other ministers won’t accept any more free outfits.

Cabinet minister Pat McFadden, who ran Labour’s election campaign, said the government would not be derailed by criticism.

“I’m not going to pretend to anyone in this room that I’ve enjoyed some of the headlines and stories over the last week ,” he told a meeting at the conference. “But nor am I going to allow them to define the government.”

The clothes episode, and another over the salary of Starmer’s top aide, are unwelcome distractions for a government taking office as tensions spiral in the Middle East and the 2 ½-year-old war in Ukraine.

Starmer’s government has maintained Britain’s strong military, humanitarian and diplomatic support for Kyiv, and has been involved in discussions with the U.S. over whether Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

In July's election, Labour lost several seats it had been expected to win to independent candidates critical of the party's initial refusal to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The issue continues to be difficult for the party. On Monday, a heckler shouting about British arms sales to Israel briefly interrupted Reeves' speech, and on Tuesday activists attempted to write “Genocide conference” at the entrance to the convention center.

Starmer urged an immediate Gaza cease-fire and for “all parties to step back from the brink” amid mounting strikes in both directions across the Israel-Lebanon border.

Starmer emphasized the changes the government has already made, including settling long-running doctors’ strikes, setting up a state-run green energy firm, preparing to nationalize the railways and strengthening protections for renters.

He also hinted at future contentious moves, including more stringent conditions for welfare recipients, as he acknowledged some of his decisions would be unpopular.

“If the last few years have shown us anything, it's that if you bury your head because things are difficult, your country goes backwards,” he said.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Workers clean the graffiti at tent windows at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Members arrive to attend the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria, arrive at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer addresses members at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves smiles after her speech during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Pins for sale are on display in a drawer at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer listens to the speech of Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Jon Super)

ROME (AP) — Italian designer Alberta Ferretti announced on Tuesday she is stepping down as creative director of the eponymous brand she founded more than 40 years ago.

“On Sept. 17th, you attended my last fashion show,” Ferretti wrote in a letter sent out by email.

“Yes, it’s time for me to make room for a new chapter for my brand, a new narrative. It was a difficult, complicated, but a very thoughtful choice,” she added.

Ferretti, 74, said the brand will continue to bear her name and she will announce her successor soon.

Fashion group Aeffe -- which owns the Alberta Ferretti brand along with Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, Moschino and Pollini -- said that Ferretti will retain her role as vice president of the group.

At her last show during Milan’s fashion week, Ferretti presented her summery creations in the courtyard of a former cloister, now a science museum, with an elegant dome rising in the background, emphasizing the artisanal heritage in her collection.

“They are real summer clothes, because the world in the summer is very warm. I know a show is supposed to be a show but reality is important,’’ she said backstage, without hinting at her decision of stepping down soon.

Ferretti, who grew up in her family’s dressmaking shop before opening her own boutique as a teenager, has remained true to her signature gentle feminine silhouettes since the launch of the brand in 1981.

“The Alberta of that day is in many ways still the Alberta of today, even if in the meantime a small family business has become a company with 1500 employees,” she wrote in her letter.

Models wear creations as part of the Alberta Ferretti Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).

Models wear creations as part of the Alberta Ferretti Spring Summer 2025 collection, that was presented in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno).