The LibDem gains in support in the 2019 general election, such as they were, came from Remainer Tories and in numbers twice as great from moderate Labour types turned off by Corbyn. Yet all three leadership contenders are currently running on platforms that even Islington would reject as being too left-wing.

Layla Moran is the most extreme, warning Keir Starmer he should be worried if she becomes the next LibDem leader, as she will move the party to their left and “be even more radical than Labour”. So far her policies include support for Universal Basic Income, withholding financial support for companies that use tax havens and – prepare to ‘yes and ho’ – scrap the Treasury in favour of a new “Department for Sustainability”. The question is whether any specific policy proposal will encourage left-wing Labour voters to believe that the former austerity coalition party is the place for their next vote…

Wera Hobhouse’s manifesto reads like a love letter to Labour, saying the party shouldn’t stand “equally between right and left” given the biggest threat to liberalism “comes from the right”

“In the most recent election, we trained our fire equally at the Conservatives and Labour, even though Labour backed a People’s Vote, had a plan to address the climate crisis and wanted to invest in public services to deliver a more equal society.”

At least she’s learnt the lesson of Jo Swinson: “With eleven MPs we are not contenders for national government”…

Sir Ed Davey should be glad copyright law doesn’t apply to party policies, or Rebecca Long-Bailey would be suing him for his “Green Revolution” proposal, lifted straight from Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto – along with a £150 billion investment price tag. Davey only has one further policy, which is lifted so like-for-like from “The Thick of It” that it can only be intentional: “Free public transport for young carers”

Guido can’t work out whether the LibDems are now more ‘Thick of It’ or ‘Death of Stalin’. Either way, Armando Iannucci deserves royalties…

UPDATE: Just hours after going to publish, Wera Hobhouse has now withdrawn from the LibDem leadership race.