“I would describe myself as a socialist”. So said Prime Minister-in-waiting Sir Keir Starmer this week, in answer to what has been one of those interminable questions that all Labour leaders feel compelled to address. Defining political ideology is not an exact science, and the definition of socialism is changeable depending on whom you are asking.

It would, however, take a contorted definition of what a socialist is to consider Sir Keir to be one; he believes in global capitalism, free trade and private ownership of key infrastructure, and has spent much of this week engineering the defenestration of a number of left-wing allies of his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, a man whose socialism is not in question.

He is, by reasonable, modern, western European standards, what would be called a social democrat, rather than a socialist. He believes in capitalism with some form of social management; in the public and private spheres working together. In simplistic terms, he is closer to the centre of the political spectrum, and could fairly be described as a follower of the so-called "Third Way" politics of President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair, which sought to combine the sentiments of those mildly to the left of centre and those mildly to the right of centre.

It is rather a shame that Sir Keir feels our political discourse cannot handle the truth of that position, although it is more spiriting to find his would-be Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, rejecting the socialist label and calling herself a social democrat.

In any event, in the 21st century this ideological positioning is increasingly the preserve of the political bubble. Voters are already moving beyond the labels, and more........

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