Echo Comment: Is Blair’s devastating criticism of Starmer right?

And most of the former Sedgefield MP’s devastating criticism is correct – although the one big success of Mr Starmer’s time in office has been his refusal to stand shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump in his ill judged war against Iran.

Mr Blair talks of Mr Starmer’s government having “no coherent plan” which is much like this column’s view that it has no guiding vision – it put itself forward as being the antidote to the incompetence of the Conservative years but didn’t have a plan, or a vision, about what it wanted to achieve when in power.

Consequently, we’ve had two years of negativity, U-turns and climbdowns, and the big decisions about benefits, pensions, social care, taxes, defence spending have been dodged, as Mr Blair suggests.

He also says that elections are won from the “radical centre”, not from the left, as Jeremy Corbyn showed, and Reform will have to get much more than its current 27 per cent to win from the right.

The “radical centre”, though, must get things done, and despite a huge majority, Mr Starmer’s government has been characterised by dither.

So Mr Blair is largely right – but was this the right time to air these views? He has cut Mr Starmer off at the knees and Kemi Badenoch will surely used “no coherent plan” against him at Prime Minister’s Questions.

And Mr Blair himself is so toxic, largely because of his support for the American war against Iraq, that some Labour MPs may swing to the left just to differentiate themselves from him – exactly what he is arguing would damage the party and the country.