For many it will be powerful that he has returned to that topic and the deep unease it created in communities about the state of the nation.

But the other side to populism is what Starmer called in his speech “the politics of easy answers” and it was the main thrust of his prosecution of the Tories’ record in power.

He argued that the Conservatives, who promised so much with none of the trade-offs, are responsible for that breakdown in public trust. Longer sentences without ever building prisons, or deportation flights to Rwanda while asylum backlogs pile up. He could have mentioned Brexit, although he didn’t.

Starmer’s answer to that degradation of politics was honest, interventionist government, which would mean hard choices but material improvement.

The new prime minister is already haunted by what is at stake if Labour gets this wrong over the next five years. There are frightening lessons from all over Europe about what that means.

For many it will be powerful that he has returned to that topic and the deep unease it created in communities about the state of the nation.

But the other side to populism is what Starmer called in his speech “the politics of easy answers” and it was the main thrust of his prosecution of the Tories’ record in power.

He argued that the Conservatives, who promised so much with none of the trade-offs, are responsible for that breakdown in public trust. Longer sentences without ever building prisons, or deportation flights to Rwanda while asylum backlogs pile up. He could have mentioned Brexit, although he didn’t.

Starmer’s answer to that degradation of politics was honest, interventionist government, which would mean hard choices but material improvement.

The new prime minister is already haunted by what is at stake if Labour gets this wrong over the next five years. There are frightening lessons from all over Europe about what that means.

The government vowed in the king’s speech to be the antidote to the “snake oil charm of populism”. The cure, ministers believe, can only be serious government, delivery, honesty about the trade-offs needed and tangible change to the lives of ordinary people.

But unsaid is that this is one of the reasons why the row over donations for clothes and entertainment cuts so deep.

Starmer does not believe politicians are all the same; it is a refrain that irks him more than any other. He knows he is different from Boris Johnson. There is immense frustration he has allowed misjudgment to give his political enemies an opening to make the claim that they are similar.

Should he ever return to his Lake District holiday cottage, one small measure of success would be whether his host complains to him about pylons or makes a joke about his suit.

The government vowed in the king’s speech to be the antidote to the “snake oil charm of populism”. The cure, ministers believe, can only be serious government, delivery, honesty about the trade-offs needed and tangible change to the lives of ordinary people.

But unsaid is that this is one of the reasons why the row over donations for clothes and entertainment cuts so deep.

Starmer does not believe politicians are all the same; it is a refrain that irks him more than any other. He knows he is different from Boris Johnson. There is immense frustration he has allowed misjudgment to give his political enemies an opening to make the claim that they are similar.

Should he ever return to his Lake District holiday cottage, one small measure of success would be whether his host complains to him about pylons or makes a joke about his suit.