Did Keir Starmer’s speech at the Labour Party conference move the dial for the under-fire Prime Minister?

PR agency Be Broadcast’s Mission Control tool analysed the past 24 hours of coverage for Starmer and Nigel Farage and found that the PM had 16,952 mentions compared to the Reform UK leader’s 5,499.

“That’s a clear dominance which shows just how much his Labour conference speech has cut through,” said founder Josh Wheeler.

“Broadcasters repeatedly described the Prime Minister as clear, strong, determined, confident, and positive – signs of a leader trying to reassert authority and reset his premiership. But the coverage wasn’t without caveats: he was also called flat, weak, angry, even patronising. In other words, he may have delivered power and punch, but doubts remain about whether it’s enough to shift opinion outside the conference hall.

“Farage, meanwhile, is framed very differently. He’s less the statesman, more the combative disrupter. Discussions see him as serious, clear and strong, but also angry, divisive and inciting. He commands influence, but here it is reactive – defined by the outrage he provokes, rather than by offering a vision of the future.

“What we’re seeing in the data is a political battle of contrasts: Starmer the embattled Prime Minister fighting for clarity and control, versus Farage the insurgent voice channelling disruption.

“In the last 24 hours, Starmer has won the airtime – but the real question is whether that dominance translates into public trust.”