here is something almost Shakespearean about the way it has come to this. Remember where it began – on that grey July morning, with Keir Starmer striding confidently up Downing Street, pledging not just to renew British politics but cleanse and purify it.

Now the man who vowed to restore standards, dignity and trust to our nation stands finally, and fully, exposed.

A liar. A charlatan. A capricious fool.

The revelation that Peter Mandelson failed his formal vetting by the security services prior to his elevation as Washington ambassador is, on one level, staggering.

That Keir Starmer forced through Mandelson’s appointment to such a highly sensitive post, then misled parliament, the Press and the British people about the true facts, elevates this to a scandal on a par with Profumo’s perfidy.

But on another level it was all too predictable. It was clear back in March – when Starmer refused six times to answer Kemi Badenoch‘s simple question about whether he’d spoken to Mandelson before his appointment – that the PM feared this was the crisis that would terminate his premiership.

Read more: The deceit, deception and the duplicity have finally caught up with Sir Keir. He must resign in wake of Mandelson security vetting scandal