Starmer is now at the same sort of point that Theresa May was in the summer of 2017, that Boris Johnson was after Partygate, and that Liz Truss was after the market reaction to her “mini” Budget. Theresa May lasted two years. Boris Johnson a little under a year, Liz Truss 29 days.

In the space of a few hours, Mandelson’s future has now shifted from the certainty of ignominy to the possibility of prison.