After the original revelations were printed in the Daily Mail, one of Starmer’s Political Advisers (PAd) told sympathetic left-wing journalist Ava Evans, “It’s a relief Durham police aren’t handing out retrospective fines, because we would probably get one”. This expression of relief may now turn out to have been premature.

Another PAd has now told her “I just don’t want to get fined for having a curry with Keir Starmer. It was already a bad Friday night. The curry was bad and the chat was worse”. This candid on-the-record admission rather gives the lie to official public party statements of untroubled indifference.

Ava also reports that one Labour MP told her they would not be participating in any media interviews for the next few days, for fear of being asked to defend Sir Keir. His actions were “indefensible” she reports them as saying. Which explains why we are only seeing Emily Thornberry abasing herself in studios…