It’s not just Angela Rayner who finds herself on the defensive; Rachel Reeves has come out fighting – claiming many of her critics are talking rubbish. Who could she be talking about?

Imagine returning from your summer break to find that your boss has poached your deputy and hired a brace of advisers to advise him on your job. That’s the situation Rachel Reeves found herself in – though Downing Street insists that she and Keir Starmer agreed on the plan.

The mini-reshuffle of people and roles that most people have never heard of and will never think about was in fact hugely consequential.

In appointing Darren Jones, until recently the Chancellor’s No 2, to a powerful position inside No 10, Starmer is admitting that the machine has not been delivering. He needs Jones to drive through his agenda across departments. Then, in appointing his own personal chief economics adviser he’s admitting a number of things.

First, that No 10 hasn’t been across the economic agenda – politically and........

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