The first place a smart but inexperienced new leader should look when crisis flares and criticism laps at the Downing Street door is in the mirror. No one can sensibly blame Keir Starmer, in office for just over a month when the atrocious killing of children in Southport unleashed a tide of violent rioting, for events which have been brewing for a long time. But as tempting as it might be for Labour to default to its “14 years of Tory misrule” rhetoric, over-indulging this urge will be a mistake.

Labour needs to move from being the party which is still mentally fighting the election campaign to accepting that it is now in charge and the responses are its own to make. That is lesson one of the (hopefully) more peaceful week after the storm.

Starmer’s approach so far has been the rational response of a prosecutor, emphasising that justice will be meted out fast through the courts to miscreants and that “pure thuggery” will not be tolerated. Fair enough – but there is justified criticism that a figure new to the grand stage of national leadership needs to be more than just au fait with the justice process when crisis breaks out.

He has been unlucky in attracting the inflammatory attention of Elon Musk prating on about “civil war”. But I do think the PM needs to be wary of being dragged into debates on which he is largely powerless. He should focus instead on expediting aspects of the Online Harms Bill which will have some (albeit limited) effect on how to counter the disinformation spread, rather than a shouting match with an implacable and distant tech titan.

So far, the remedies........

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