Some big questions will be asked this weekend – about how Labour fell so far so fast, about when Keir Starmer goes and who takes his place – but at least one big thing will be clear: never entrust your country to people who keep insisting they’re grown up.

Think back to 2024 and the birth of Starmer’s government. “The adults are back in the room,” exulted Darren Jones as Labour went marching into Downing Street. Having chopped the party’s largest pledges into little pieces (Goodbye, Green New Deal! Farewell, securonomics!), the single greatest qualification Starmer, Jones and co had for office was not policy, but vibes. After a decade of blue-on-blue fighting and a string of gap-year prime ministers, all the reds had to be was serious, sensible, businesslike. Labour would own the mien of production.

“Stability is change,” said Starmer, a phrase straight out of Chauncey Gardiner that still wowed commentators. Andrew Marr summed up the collective delight: “For the first time in many of our lives, actually Britain looks like a little haven of peace and stability.”

Less than two years later, Starmer’s people freely accept that Thursday’s elections will be an epic disaster. If Labour MPs follow through on threats to force out their leader, then in the decade since Theresa May took office the UK will have discarded more prime ministers than Italy. Britain will become a cautionary tale of the perils of leaving grownups in charge.

In Westminster, “adult” is a conman’s compliment. It sounds a judgment of character, when it is really a definition of ideology. One proves political maturity by not banging on about injustice, by not troubling too much the rich and powerful. To try it out,........

© The Guardian