Purging the left has been one of Keir Starmer’s main goals since his election as leader four years ago. His team has taken the whip off Jeremy Corbyn, junked much of the party’s 2019 manifesto and moved to block left-wingers on Labour’s National Executive Committee as part of their bid to show that the party has truly changed – honest! But how true is that really, eh?

Mr S was amused to discover that among the dozens of Labour councillors elected this morning was one Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw.