HOW is Starmer’s plan to replace members with multimillionaires going? In July the Times reported: “Keir Starmer seeks billionaire cash as Labour struggless to pay staff.” Starmer’s strategy to move rightwards from the leftish-sounding “10 pledges” he made to get elected Labour leader has a cost.

Under Corbyn, Labour again became a mass membership party — and all those subscriptions made the party’s finances healthy. Starmer trying to shift the party much further right than he promised has chased many members away, so the party is running low on cash. There is an alternative: the New Labour model that relies on Labour-leaning millionaire donors to fill the gap.

An advantage for Starmer is that these millionaires positively want Labour to abandon any establishment-challenging policies, because they are part of the establishment. So you get the cash in return for running a bland unchallenging party — which seems to play to Starmer’s strengths.

However, there is a glitch in the machine. All the Labour supporting “high net worth individuals” only really start coughing up the cash if they think the party is close to winning an election. There is no point in spending their cash to support a neutralised Labour Party if it isn’t anywhere near government — it would be neutralising something that is already neutralised.