The Starmtroopers: how Labour’s centrists took back control

On a cloudy Saturday in March, a group of unlikely characters gathered in an office near London’s Old Street for political training. A scientist, a prison officer, an army veteran and four economists were among them and they all hope to be elected as Labour MPs at the next election. A great many of them are expected to succeed. If today’s polls were to become tomorrow’s election result, there would be an influx of more than 200 new Labour MPs, doubling Keir Starmer’s parliamentary contingent to 450. The quality of those politicians will decide the nature of the next Labour government.

They are, very much, Starmer’s people. Since becoming leader, his main focus has been rooting out the Corbynite influence at every level of his party and finding moderates to replace the far left. His plan was to regain control over the apparatus and then focus on fighting the Tories.