At first, it seemed obvious. Starmer was playing exactly the same role that Tony Blair did in the 1990s. His job was to crush the Corbynite left and convince voters it was safe to elect a Labour government again.

And that’s what he did, with impressive ruthlessness. Exactly as Blair had done before him. His reward was sweeping to power in July.

Which is when it all went wrong.

Having made Labour electable again – albeit with fewer votes than former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn mustered in 2017…