The real reason Keir Starmer keeps forgetting he’s prime minister

When Sir Keir Starmer faced off against Rishi Sunak at the despatch box today, in the first Prime Minister’s Questions after the parliamentary recess, he seemed to be rather unsure what his role was. Over the course of their exchanges, the ostensible leader of the country referred to his opposite number not once, not twice, but five times as ‘the prime minister’.

It was bad enough when Starmer made this mistake back in July, though after four years in opposition and just weeks into the new role, we might perhaps understand it having become a habit. But to do it again? After he’s been in office for two months, attended a Nato Summit, given numerous grim-faced Downing Street speeches and announced a raft of nannying laws? For Sir Keir to forget who’s running the country a second time is a ridiculous error. One can imagine Starmer squinting down at his briefing cards ahead of the next PMQs: ‘Note to self: YOU are the one in charge – not Rishi Sunak, not Sue Gray, not the OBR, not “international law”.