Keir Starmer looks and sounds middle class precisely because he’s working class

Despite being beaten by an Old Etonian with ‘de Pfeffel’ as his middle name, the Labour Party has descended into a rather predictable round of the Four Yorkshiremen, with competing factions arguing variously that voters in former ‘red wall’ seats will only return to Labour if it is led by a northerner, a woman and preferably someone who grew up in a cardboard box.

Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t appear to be any of those things. He may end up being the only man standing against a group of female contenders. He is a Northerner only in London terms, and as former Director of Public Prosecutions, doesn’t sound like he’s come from a tough background. He has spent the past few days trying to overcome this great disadvantage as much as he has tried to articulate what he would actually stand for as Labour leader, telling the Today programme that ‘my background isn’t what they think it is’.