Project Save Starmer is launched with a very small bang. The Easter break and Iran crisis mark the moment a small band of outright supporters and much larger group of MPs and ministers who fear that a leadership scrap would annihilate their chances of remaining in power, roll out a new marketing campaign for the battered Keir Starmer prototype.

“We shall not be moved” is the new battle anthem. Its aim is to see off a challenge after the 7 May slew of local elections are set to deliver devastating verdict on nearly two years of Labour Government. The first verse is a roll-out of the oldest defence in the book – that local “midterms” are rarely predictive of general election outcomes over two years down the line.

On these grounds, one can maintain that even if Starmer lost pretty much every Labour council seat (which in some places might well happen), magically, things will be OK in the end. That defies common sense and anyway, the range of these elections across the country – in Scotland, Wales and London – means the message of the electorate should be taken more seriously than blaming vague midterm blues.

The second string to this argument is that anything else would be far worse. This may well be true, but it is the last line of defence for a leader, so rolling it out now looks a tad desperate.

The third element is that a stabilisation of the PM’s favourability ratings, which have edged back over the 20 per cent low watermark, meaning that his “lean back” position on involvement in the Gulf crisis has bought public favour. Up........

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