When there is a change in government, there is a dramatic change in job titles.
Even if the winner of the election isn’t a huge surprise, even for those of us who spend our careers watching and scrutinizing these people, it can still set you up for a trap.
Suddenly, the person answering the “Prime Minister” question is a different man than he was earlier this month.
Opposition leader Rishi Sunak continues to oppose the prime minister, but he is no longer prime minister.
This is a new government trying to capitalise on three specific moments in its first two weeks in office to cement its place in power in the minds of voters – and shake off that novelty as a team of people who have long been in opposition are now running the place.
There was the NATO summit in Washington last week, the European Political Community met at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday, and then there is the King’s Speech today.
They are all events where celebrations and vivid images add lustre to the simplest political promises.
Very useful for any government at any time – organizing and arranging the functions of power that opposition parties are deprived of.
In purely numerical terms, the number of planned new laws introduced at today’s State Opening of Parliament is very high – higher, Labour says, than Tony Blair managed to pass at the same moment in 1997.
It is worth noting that government plans and government achievements are not one and the same thing.
Ideas for new laws may stall, go off track, or need to be amended, and the government may run out of time or enthusiasm to pursue them.
Things happen, things always happen, they grab the agenda, the attention, the waiting list of ministers.
But remember, this government has a huge majority.
The rebellions and noise would have to be very loud to cause Sir Keir Starmer real problems, and while there will no doubt be an awkward group on the bench over time, most of them are likely to be loyal before they become (perhaps) angry.
For today’s prime minister, the goal is to project a sense of energy and urgency, but not surprises.
He will try to convince you that he is turning his campaign promises into reality, or at least has started the process of doing so.
He wants to give the impression that the party has been working hard in opposition to be ready for government – and the scale of these ideas makes it clear that they have not been cobbled together in the last two weeks.
Labour wants to make the most of the honeymoon period, which they know may be short-lived.
They have successfully exploited that most powerful word – “change” – in the election campaign.
Now comes the next hard part: trying to actually deliver it.
