Keir Starmer tried to paint himself as a pro-business politician this afternoon, quoting the British Chamber of Commerce and even referencing the Prime Minister’s reported “f*ck business” comments from the midst of the Brexit crisis. Yet Sir Keir’s sudden love affair with the market economy is a very recent damascene conversion. Guido has dug up a conversation Sir Keir had with hard left North of Tyne metro mayor Jamie Driscoll in 2020, which went unreported at the time. In February 2020, Starmer said:

“I think we’ve got to have the courage to say the economic system, the free market economic system is busted and need to be replaced with a new economic system, or model, where government sets the direction and sets the framework.”

The last senior politician to make those kind of claims about “overthrowing capitalism” was John McDonnell…