Sir Keir Starmer

So, and to nobody's surprise, Sir Keir Starmer has been elected as leader of the Labour Party. It's ironic that Jeremy Corbyn leaves when the economic policies he advocated have never been more needed, to the extent that the Tory government is implementing some rather pale imitations of them. I think that it became clear once the surprise of the 2017 general election result had died down that Jezza should have resigned at that point. I often observed during my business career that when the right man finds himself in the right place at the right time, that he subsequently ascribes all the success to the first part and none to the others. It would seem that it applies to politics as well. That was always going to be peak Jezza and had he gone then he could have handed over to whoever he wanted.

The reindeer's nose is deepest red

I voted for Starmer, and wish him well, especially in the current circumstances which don't seem to contain much upside for anyone, whether in government or opposition. For non-UK readers, one thing you may not know about him is that distinguished human rights lawyer Starmer might have been, but equally might well not have been, the model for distinguished human rights lawyer Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones Diary. Author Helen Fielding - who by the way comes from Leeds - says not, and presumably she would know.