With his allies draining away, Sir Keir Starmer finds himself in a similar position to the one that Tony Blair found himself in after nine years in Downing Street. Except that the current incumbent has arrived at the same point after just 19 months.
Under siege over what was clearly a disastrous decision to appoint the now disgraced Peter Mandelson to the role of ambassador to the US, Sir Keir looks like the loneliest prime minister ever to have stepped through the door of No 10.
