In the evening sunshine on the House of Commons terrace last Wednesday, Keir Starmer took some of his closest aides for a drink. Just three days into the new parliamentary session, and with a successful reshuffle under their belts, they were upbeat.
Earlier, at prime minister's questions, the Labour leader had likened Rishi Sunak's government to "cowboy builders" over crumbling concrete in schools. With the government on the back foot, Labour aides couldn't believe their luck.
"It's been a good week," admitted one usually cautious adviser. "But we can't be complacent. We still have a long way to go and anything could happen." But the expectation is growing, both inside and outside the Labour party, that Starmer will be the next prime minister.
It rounded off a promising start to the new parliamentary term for Labour after a summer during which the Tories struggled to shake off the narrative that they are in meltdown. The day before MPs returned, Starmer met his closest team to put his finishing touches to the reshuffle. The next morning, he gathered his chief of staff, Sue Gray, on her first day in the job; Alan Campbell, the chief whip; Luke Sullivan, his political director; and Jill Cuthbertson, the leader of his office.
The reshuffle was viewed by many as a return of the Blairites, with half a dozen Blair-era former ministers and advisers - including Liz Kendall and Peter Kyle getting top jobs.
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