Sir Keir Starmer has many strengths, but earthy dynamism is not one of them. In Aesop’s fables, he is the wily and purposeful tortoise, not the fun and speedy hare. His temperament will not change — politicians rarely do — but over the coming weeks there will be new tests for the man who would be prime minister.
One of the very few assets a bedraggled (literally yesterday) prime minister has at his disposal is the shock effect of calling an election at short notice. Labour has seen this coming — bumping into a key member of Starmer’s team in Washington DC a month ago, I was surprised to find him edgily on alert and under instructions to have his phone on loud, day and night.
