Scattered early battles are breaking out in the Labour leadership war. Over the weekend, Wes Streeting gave a speech in which he branded Brexit a “catastrophic mistake” and said that “Britain’s future lies… one day back in the European Union”. When Andy Burnham was asked the same question, he replied that there was a case for rejoining the EU “in the long term”.

In the 48 hours since those comments, much has been written about a new Labour schism between these two camps. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy branded Streeting’s call to rejoin the EU “a bit odd” and claimed not to understand “why the sudden focus on Europe”. The Times quoted Burnham supporters accusing Streeting of “sabotage”. The right-wing press in general lost the plot. Nigel Farage insisted he’d make Brexit the key issue in the by-election.

All of which distracts us from the fact that Streeting and Burnham expressed exactly the same position. Streeting envisions rejoining the EU “one day”, Burnham envisions it in “the long term”, but both of them want it to happen and neither of them want it to happen tomorrow, which it couldn’t anyway. The difference in their response is mostly about manner. Streeting embraced the topic, jumping head-first into it with clear language. Burnham looked like he was being dragged into it against his will.

This is not because they hold different positions. It’s because they face different electorates. Streeting is trying to win a leadership........

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