Yesterday Guido noted that Tom Kibasi, who helped direct Starmer’s leadership bid, had attacked Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership as a “journey to nowhere”, and claimed that “if Starmer were to depart as leader tomorrow, he would not leave a trace of a meaningful political project in his wake”. Fierce criticism from a once staunch ally who expressed delight at Starmer’s victory…

Guido has his suspicions as to why Kibasi is so upset, and it isn’t just because of Starmer’s polling. A revealing excerpt from the book Left Out shows just how instrumental Kibasi was to the Starmer leadership campaign:

“By the time the general election campaign had begun, so too had Starmer’s leadership bid. Early in the campaign he met Parker and Mason again over an Indian takeaway from Westminster institution Kennington Tandoori. Their host was Tom Kibasi…”

“On Monday mornings and Thursday afternoons during the campaign, Starmer headed to chez Kibasi to hammer out [where Labour should go]. It was a professionalised operation from the outset… by the time the exit poll revealed that Corbyn had led Labour to its worst defeat since 1935, Keir Starmer already knew how he would win the leadership election that would follow.”

Kibasi was a key player for Starmer’s campaign – hosting meetings, directing the key advert, and writing lines – yet once the leadership race was over he was passed over for any position on the team. The word awash in virtual Westminster is Kibasi’s new-found ire at Starmer is more personal than it first seemed…