But his decision to proactively praise Margaret Thatcher for having sought to “drag Britain out of its stupor” appears to be an unforced political own goal.

Sir Keir made the remarks as he wrote for the Sunday Telegraph in a pitch to further woo over disaffected Conservative voters.

The comments have predictably infuriated many in the left of the Labour party and now means his MPs and Shadow Cabinet Ministers will face days of questioning about what they thought of Mrs Thatcher.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, during the Cop28 summit. Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire

Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds looked visibly uncomfortable as he questioned on the topic on the BBC on Sunday morning, pausing before answering: “I come from a mining town in County Durham so on a personal level her policies are not something I would be sympathetic to. But I would certainly recognise her as a formidable opponent, one you have to respect.”

Meanwhile Conservative MPs have seized the opportunity to highlight Sir Keir’s apparently shifting values.

Redcar & Cleveland Jacob Young went as far as posting a mocked-up picture of the Labour leader perching on a fence and wrote on social media site X: “Starmer has gone from wanting Corbyn to be PM, to pretending he likes Margaret Thatcher. There isn’t a fence he won’t sit on.”

Equally, the Labour leader’s accusation that the Tories have “failed to realise the possibilities of Brexit" will raise eyebrows, given in 2016 he described the referendum result as “catastrophic for the UK”.

To tweak a famous phrase of a certain former Prime Minister, Labour’s leader is for turning.

Keir Starmer's praise of Margaret Thatcher is an unforced own goal: The Yorkshire Post says