Pumped-up Keir Starmer has the air of a winner, whereas Liz Truss is a deflating loser as MPs return to Parliament this week.
He’s knocking on the door of Downing Street and she’s in No 10 but not in power, as Conservatives are openly speculating she could be swiftly ousted.
The fortunes of the leaders couldn’t be in sharper contrast after a summer that has left Starmer’s flying high and Truss at rock-bottom.
It carries a risk for the Labour leader, of course.
Scrutiny and accountability will understandably intensify when he appears to many voters a Prime Minister-in-waiting.
And two years is more than 100 of Harold Wilson’s long weeks in politics, during which much could happen because the Cons will delay a General Election to the bitter end.
But complacency isn’t the danger for a Starmer who rightly takes nothing for granted. The greater threat would be the ruthless Cons throwing the dice once more and toppling toxic Truss.
Gambling on Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch, Rishi Sunak or an anonymous backbencher who isn’t a household name in their own home would be better than sticking with a totally discredited figure who would seal defeat.
Picking a leader electorally more unpopular than Boris Johnson was a colossal mistake, a gift that keeps on giving to Starmer and Labour.
Voters won’t forget or forgive a Tory leader who showed their true colours by championing a wealthy elite at the height of a cost of living crisis for low and middle-income families.
Transforming a Government with a 71-seat working majority in the House of Commons into a minority administration is jaw-dropping – with reducing the value of benefits the next likely defeat if Conservative rebels side with Labour.
No wonder Starmer can afford to smile privately as he hammers Truss and the Cons publicly.
Okay, a fifth leader in six years is unlikely to be able to save a warring, exhausted Tory Party that doesn’t deserve mercy.
What is undeniable is Truss is a dud, a punctured verifiable calamity.
No greater sacrifice could Conservative MPs make than to lay down their seats for the sake of this monumental flop.
We’re about to discover if the fight has gone out of the Tories.
