THIS far into Keir Starmer’s term as prime minister, one thing is certain. Acting with ‘integrity’ is much easier said than done.

Unlike some of his Conservative predecessors, Starmer gave all the appearance of a man who had a safe pair of hands. A man too boring to be up to mischief. A plodder focused on delivery rather than soundbites.

The reality, we now know, is somewhat different. He is unquestionably one of the most useless politicians to walk through the door of No 10 Downing Street.

Useless is bad. Unprincipled and useless is worse, and that is what Starmer has demonstrated himself to be.

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The only good thing that can be said about him is that he has more or less stayed clear of the north, though that has not been enough to insulate the economy here from Labour’s mismanagement, nor is it enough to shield vulnerable people and the elderly from Labour’s wilful decisions on pensions and welfare.

There’s a joke about a boy in ‘Balloon Land’ who runs amok with a pin. Called to account for the pile of deflated rubber around him, he’s told: “You have let your family down, you have let your teachers........

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