Prime minister Keir Starmer says his Downing Street flat is bedecked with St George’s flags. “I always sit in front of the Union Jack,” he claims. From human rights lawyer to anti-woke flag-waver is quite a jump, argues Herald columnist Neil Mackay - so what's behind it?

It’s getting like the final scene of The Invasion of the Body-Snatchers. In the last reel of the 1978 version of the movie, we discover that Donald Sutherland - our hero and only hope to save the world - has been turned overnight into an alien in human-form. He’s been body-snatched.

Today, folk seem to be body-snatched with increasing regularity. There’s some perfectly nice centrist-liberal you’ve known for years, then one day they start raging about refugees and Pride marches. Sometimes it’s anti-vaxx lines you’re hit with, or climate denial.

It’s not invaders from outer space who’ve got hold of them, though. It’s the radicalisation machine called social media.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for changing your mind on political matters. My views on nuclear weapons, for instance, have changed dramatically over time, shifting from my idealistic CND youth to today’s more pragmatic ‘don’t put down a pistol in a roomful of shotguns’ approach.

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Another example: where once I was fairly liberal on law and order, I’ve slowly become much more stringent. I now support life sentences for sex offenders.

But these are changes over a lifetime. I’ve thought about issues, mellowed my opinions through life experience (being a crime reporter certainly changes your views on offending), and reached conclusions which brought me in a different direction.

It’s as bonkers to go from a left to a right position overnight, as it is to refuse to ever rethink your personal ideology.

Today, though, it’s common to see someone who........

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