Sir Keir’s let the cat out of the bag. In footage obtained by Sky News‘ Sam Coates, taken from a conference of left-wing leaders in Canada last weekend, Starmer admits “we don’t want to diverge” from EU rules, and “the more we share a future together” the better. An extraordinary admission from the man who’s got splinters from sitting on the fence for the last three years…

“Most of the conflict with the UK being outside of the [EU] arises inso far as the UK wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of our EU partners. Obviously the more we share values, the more we share a future together, the less the conflict. Actually different ways of solving problems become available… we don’t want to diverge, we don’t want to lower standards, we don’t want to rip up environmental standards…”

This should hardly be surprising, given he spent years pushing for a second referendum under Corbyn. The whole point of leaving was to become dynamic and nimble, rather than beholden to the whims of bureaucrats hundreds of miles away. Starmer has already admitted he prefers Davos to Westminster. The mask is slipping…