Former Labour MP Mike Gapes has returned to his political home four years after giving up his membership over Corbyn. Writing in the Times, Gapes reveals he’s finally rejoining the Labour Party thanks to Sir Keir’s “firm, purposeful leadership”:

“Watching from the outside, I have been incredibly impressed by the way Keir Starmer has relentlessly focused on making it once again a patriotic, serious party of mainstream Britain.

It was essential for Starmer to promise action to root out antisemitism. But the way he has taken personal responsibility for chasing it out of the party speaks to the firm, purposeful leadership he has shown.

Similarly, the way he has returned Labour to its roots, with a strong, patriotic and pro-Nato position has been very impressive. Thanks to Starmer’s leadership, Labour has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people against Russian imperialism. […] On the big issues facing the country, Labour is once again aligned with the British public, rather than special interests.”

How moving. Gapes is right, Labour has changed a lot since 2019… although judging by his own assessment, presumably most of those changes happened in the last eight weeks or so. Here’s what he had to say about Labour and its dear leader in January:

Trot Twitter is going into meltdown again over “Keith” Starmer “betrayal” of the ten pledges he made to get elected in 2020. They have a point.- the honest answer is that Starmer would never have won a members ballot without genuflecting to the Corbynite left.

— Mike Gapes ⚒🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@MikeGapes) January 8, 2023

So that “firm, purposeful leadership” involves breaking all his own political pledges in a cynical move to grab power. He goes on to say that, had he had a vote in 2020, he “wouldn’t have voted for Starmer” in the first place…