Labour's muddled pecking order must be hastily solved

When Keir Starmer's team drew up its "first 100 days" in power plan when a July election was called, after an initial policy blitz, they planned to use the normally quiet political month of August to complete the transition to government by fine-tuning the new machine.

- ANDREW GRICE

UK leaders hardly get a minute for that, moving into Downing Street the morning after an election – unlike in the US where, after an election on 5 November, either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will not be inaugurated as president until 20 January.

Labour’s best-laid plans were derailed by the riots. Starmer hasn’t even had a summer holiday. With the disorder quelled, I think he could and should have taken a break this week, but he was on official visits to Northern Ireland and Wales.

There is a silver lining: he and his family have taken a liking to Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat in Buckinghamshire, so they have enjoyed some precious family time. Characteristically, Starmer is not complaining. Life can’t be all that bad when a heated indoor swimming pool comes with the job.

The breakneck speed of the transition has left some personnel issues unresolved, and lines of who is accountable to whom undrawn. There are staff with overlapping briefs and titles – there seems to be both a head of policy and a director of policy.