When Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham announced that they intend to challenge Keir Starmer as prime minister, it felt like the start of a depressingly familiar loop. A leader who had made many great-sounding promises failed to deliver and lost the trust of the public. The public demands he quit, and he may soon be replaced by another leader who also makes impressive pledges.
During the past decade the UK has seen this loop many times. There have been five leaders of the UK government – an average of one leader every two years.