Just two weeks have passed since Rachel Reeves assured that Labour has “no plans” to raise capital gains tax because, for some families, capital gains “is their retirement” after they have “built up a business”. It was a deliberate attempt to save face after Deputy Leader Angela Rayner went off-script, claiming capital gains should go up. She’s just done it again this morning.

Appearing on the Today Programme, Rayner suggested Labour may raise capital gains tax after all, adding she would “like to see our tax system fairer for working people”. Presumably this is the strategy now: Rayner and Reeves talk to different audiences, telling both groups what they want to hear, and hope one doesn’t listen to the other. If they get elected, everyone can be disappointed.

Just minutes after Rayner advocated raising taxes, Keir Starmer posted a tweet condemning the Tories for “rais[ing] taxes 24 times this Parliament”, and again trotted out the pointless claim that Labour would “freeze council tax this year” – something they have already admitted is just a hypothetical, and they might not do it if they actually win in 2024. This, apparently, is what a government-in-waiting looks like…