Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour party just under a year ago. He isn’t doing great; he isn’t doing terribly either, but few seem to believe he currently is doing a brilliant job.

One might argue that no politician could master the art of opposition in the current political circumstances anyway, but it isn’t just that. While it seemed fair to give him and his team a few months to find their feet at the beginning, it feels like they are still struggling to exit this initial phase.

This was seen most recently in a poll from J.L. Partners, which found that Red Wall voters were still turned off by Labour, mostly because “it is unclear what Keir Starmer stands for”. This isn’t especially surprising, as evidenced by the many pieces published over the past six months telling the leader what he should (and should not) be doing to forge a path forward.

Of course, the advice conveniently tends to line up with the writer’s pre-existing political beliefs; “embrace more Corbyn-era policies” from the left-wingers, “stop paying so much attention to the left-wingers” from the centrists, and so on.

I am not here to offer my own reflections on what Starmer should be doing, but instead to ask a question – one to which I do not have the answer. What if there isn’t a path forward for Keir Starmer?

If you look at the last two leaders of the opposition who managed to bring their party into …