One of the things we ought to consider more in judging politicians is whether they add to the gaiety of the nations. Does Kemi Badenoch? Alas no. Does Ed Davey? He thinks he does but doesn’t. Does Sir Keir Starmer add to the gaiety of nations? Actually, probably best not to answer that.

Labour’s front bench are a uniquely humourless lot; generally the cabinet look like the finalists of a lemon-sucking competition. One exception, who brings a sort of high-grade bumbling to everything he does, is David Lammy.

Whether it is his infamous Mastermind appearance or the time he said he couldn’t see any police whilst standing in front of a policeman, there can be little denying that the Sage of Tottenham has cemented his place alongside John Prescott and George Brown as a Labour deputy who ap

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