Seventy-two days ago, Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. It was, in a sense, a classic change election, much like David Cameron’s in 2010, and like Tony Blair’s in 1997, and indeed like Margaret Thatcher’s in 1979.

Sir Keir was always going to win, because he wasn’t the other guy. Political leaders can make a decent living out of not being the other guy. They can win, and stay in office for some time, particularly if the other guy’s replacement makes his or her party’s cause even more hopeless.

With hindsight, the last Conservative government did precisely that for 14 years. Mr Cameron was a bit better than Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. Theresa May and Boris Johnson were a lot better than Jeremy Corbyn. However, the lesson we can learn is that if you really believe in change, if you really believe in legacy, and if you really back yourself, you can win because you are you, not because you are not the other guy.

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That is the experience of Mrs Thatcher. And, perhaps more pertinently for Sir Keir, it is the experience of Mr Blair. Extremely rare in politics, Mr Blair was both a good Leader of the Opposition and a good Prime Minister, two very different jobs. He created ripples of hope as Leader of the Opposition and turned them into a wave of optimism as he was propelled into Downing Street, three times.

People talk about Sir Keir being the heir to Blair. So far,........

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