You asked me questions that I've never asked myself. That may seem funny, but part of being Keir is just ploughing on' The man likely to be Britain's next PM

WHAT ABOUT A QUICKFIRE ROUND, Isay to Keir Starmer, who is pushed for time on the campaign trail, a few snapshots to help glimpse the man likely to be PM? Starmer is nodding. He's keen to be helpful, keen to be a sport, although a little unsure of this magazine profile business and the need to talk about feelings. We are in the green room, all mirrors and concrete, backstage at Labour's Scottish launch in Inverclyde, and unless I'm mistaken he still has on a layer of foundation. Ready? He folds his arms across his chest. "Yes, by all means."

- Charlotte Edwardes

BUT THEN HE CAN'T REALLY SAY if he's strictly an optimist or a pessimist and, no, doesn't know if he's an extrovert or an introvert, either. "I've never really thought about it.

I don't know what that tells you." He doesn't know what he dreamed last night - or ever: "I don't dream." Just hits the pillow at 11 and "bang"-is out till around 5. He doesn't have a favourite novel or poem, wasn't scared of anything as a child. "Nothing. Nophobias." Hmmm, this is harder than I thought. Quickfire is perhaps not his format.

He will be more relaxed and expansive in our second interview a week later when, sun-glazed from the Normandy beach, he will tell me about the D-day commemorations where he stayed the whole day and Rishi Sunak did not. Like Gordon Brown's mutter of "bigoted woman", Theresa May's dementia tax, Richard Nixon's sweaty top lip, the D-day debacle will mark a shift in the campaign. Starmer will lean back on his office sofa, put his hands behind his head and reveal his shirt underarms-impressively dry for a Friday of meltdown news. He will say he's thought about my questions and has something to tell me.

But a week is an eternity in politics and so today, in Scotland, he's still cautious of tripwire headlines. Who can blame him? At 20 points ahead with a hostile media, he has everything to lose. So, he tiptoes around the question of Downing Street, caveats any mention with "if we get that far"; "we don't want to get ahead of ourselves".