Sir Keir has just insisted that the eye-watering £380,000 he and the Labour Party have accepted from Dale Vince – the man bankrolling Just Stop Oil – will have absolutely no impact on his judgement heading into the next election. None. Zilch.  

Speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning, the Labour leader claimed that the mountain of cash landing in his lap “will not make a blind bit of difference” to Labour’s position:

“Look, [Dale Vince] donated to the Labour party. He knows me very well. He knows that nothing he donates is going to affect my judgement on [Just Stop Oil], obviously it’s up to him what he does with his money. But the fact that he donates will not make a blind bit of difference to the tough line that I take in relation to Just Stop Oil”

Ferrari later put that to the test, by quizzing Starmer on the government’s plan to give the police new powers to crack down on eco-loons’ protests. Are those changes necessary? “I’m not sure they are”, said Sir Keir…