His capacity to win some of his severest critics round, and persuade them of his “greatness of soul”, helps explain his success.
Plus: by stealth, under the cover of Covid-19, Starmer is changing the Labour Party to one based on social democracy, rather than red-blooded socialism.
A catspaw of Osborne? A competitor to Policy Exchange? A resource for a modernising leadership candidate? The truth is more subtle and interesting.
It’s predominately a tight-knit group of former staffers who’ve worked together before. No change there. But it has a more provincial and state school feel.
Today is the tenth anniversary of his election as Conservative leader – the most electorally successful one in modern times bar Thatcher.
Pledges on this scale cannot be delivered in this Commons without Conservative consensus. They can only be charmed – not bullied – onto the statute book.
Number 10, Matthew Hancock, the Whips, Ministers themselves: all must ensure that Sir Humphrey’s grip is loosened.