Paddy O’Connell

Right.

Let's just put that out there on the record.

These elections are about all sorts of important things, not least who collects your bins.

However...

There is a hugely important political lens for all of this, which is the prime minister has been in doo-doo for a very long time.

And if these elections are as bad for Labour as most pollsters predict they will be, i.e.

pretty catastrophic, then it is possible, not necessarily likely, but possible that Paddy in seven days' time is sitting in these seats.

You and me will be talking about a challenge to the prime minister.

What's interesting is that this morning, allies of the prime minister have made it very clear to me that he will do, and I quote, no deals, no timetable, no pacts.

He will be running the country, concentrating on that instead of going into a membership contest where he'll talk to the members for many months on end.

So if people try to challenge Keir Starmer, his allies are making it clear this weekend or trying to make it clear that they would be running into a brick wall.

Correct.

And that's what happened to Theresa May.

So after the long list of calamities that befell her administration, in the end, she said, OK, well, give me a bit more time.

I understand none of you think that I'm allowed to hang around till the general election.

And hey, fair enough.

But I'll give you a timetable.

I'll get certain things done and then I'll agree to go at some point.

But Keir Starmer, not in the mood for that at all.

And his allies have been very deliberately, by telling me, trying to get that message out there to his party this weekend.