By the end of last week, it was clear the Prime Minister is a goner – the debate moved to the pace of his demise. That sped up yesterday with the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, his chief of staff. Starmer’s prospects looked very bleak indeed when I turned on the Today programme this morning to hear a defence of the PM being mounted by Baroness Smith of Malvern.

I wouldn’t pretend to understand the government’s communications strategy, but it doesn’t exactly scream confidence when the most senior spokesperson offered up for the morning media round is a junior skills minister from the Lords. A few hours later, the man in charge of that media strategy (and the fourth person to hold the job in 12 months), Tim Allan, jacked his job in and followed McSweeney out the door.

There’s a world in which, in just a few months, Keir Starmer could claim his plan is beginning to work

After just five months in the position, Allan said: ‘I have decided to stand down to allow a new No.10 team to be built.’ But, as James Heale explained on Coffee House, there is speculation that the real reason for his departure could be because of embarrassing messages between him and Peter Mandelson that are about to be released. In any event, Allan’s departure increases the speed of the political treadmill Starmer is barely managing to avoid hurtling off.

Then came the first big Labour name to go over the top. The party’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, held a press conference and called for the........

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