And on July 1st Sir Keir Starmer was humiliated by a huge rebellion, as Labour MPs gutted a bill to cut sickness and disability benefits. In Parliament the next day his chancellor wept and yields on Britain’s debt soared.

S ir Keir Starmer has had a rocky start in his first year as Prime Minister and faces plummeting polls for Labour and struggles inside his party as he enters the second stage of his plans for a “decade of renewal”.

Once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane. As Kipling observed in 1911, it’s tempting to “a rich and lazy nation” to try to spend its way out of trouble rather than deal with the fundamental problem.