Just days after Boris Johnson likened Dominic Cummings to a ‘homicidal robot’ in his new book, Keir Starmer seems to embrace the idea of putting a ruthless, analytics obsessed genius in charge of his Downing Street operation,

At the recent Labour conference, Keir Starmer promised a break with the “fantasy of populism.” His creed of sensible centrism is allergic to popular demands — offering only smug boasting about its own hardheadedness.

When Sir Keir Starmer first approached Sue Gray early last year to be his chief of staff, he believed the veteran civil servant would bring her long Whitehall experience to Labour’s preparations for government.