Rebecca Long-Bailey came off badly in her Newsnight clash with Emily Thornberry

Labour’s leadership candidates were grilled by Newsnight’s Katie Razzall last night. Avuncular Sir Keir Starmer, with his greying thatch and bulky frame, looked like a body-builder gone to seed. He spoke in a bluff, commandeering tone that suggested the leadership is his already – and he knows it.

His main rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, seemed ill at ease. She’s an odd blend of qualities. She might have been named after a Jilly Cooper character but she has a Maoist habit of calling the voters ‘our communities.’ Her complexion is immaculate, her gaze unblinking, her blond hair perfect. ‘Pitiless’ is the only word for her dark, angular spectacles. She recently blundered by deploying the phrase ‘progressive patriotism’ which sounds nice but means nothing. This weakness still affects her. Asked to summarise her pitch to the voters, she said:

‘What we need is an aspirational, transformative plan that invests in our regions and nations alongside a real and robust industrial strategy’.