This is proving to be a very good week for Labour. The government faces a very difficult issue (the school concrete crisis) which it is handling badly; ministers are looking defensive, even self-pitying; there are plenty of reminders of past failures and scandals (Gavin Williamson has had to apologise for bullying, Christopher Pincher faces expulsion from parliament, it is the first anniversary of Liz Truss becoming prime minister); and Keir Starmer has delivered a reshuffle that has promoted some of Labour’s best talents.
There has always been something of a mystery as to what Starmer believes. He was content to serve under Jeremy Corbyn and ran for the Labour leadership on a platform that did not put much distance between himself and his predecessor. People who had known him for a long time generally concluded that he was a figure of the soft left; his early shadow cabinets appeared to confirm that.
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