The truth behind why Victoria Starmer has chosen to be invisible

It’s exactly a year since Keir Starmer got the keys to Downing Street. Three hundred and sixty-five days since I stood at my local polling station in Kentish Town and saw Keir and his Me+Em-clad wife Victoria Starmer do the customary voting shot on election morning. It was quite the media scrum here in NW5 – the community centre at one of the local council estates, which usually hosts mum-and-baby singing or drop-ins, was besieged by the world’s press.

It’s funny when the media circus descends on somewhere you know so well; our prime minister and his wife are good north London citizens, sending their kids to local schools. I often saw Victoria at Tufnell Park station (Kentish Town was closed for a year for refurbishment). In her elegant trouser suits and long bob, she had a very north London working mum aesthetic. She fitted in just fine.

A year ago, I wrote about how I hoped Victoria would be a new kind of “first lady” – one who bucked the traditional trend of buy-one-get-one-free political wives. It’s amazing how many consort occupants of Downing Street have made being “Mrs Prime Minister” their primary identity. Lest we forget Cherie Blair, with her stylist Carole Caplin, being photographed in her Downing Street bedroom applying lip gloss. Or Samantha Cameron, who released shots of her trendified Downing Street flat with its LOVE pillows, on-trend DVD box sets (remember those?) and OKA shelving.

As the first official consort occupant not to be married to her PM partner, Carrie Johnson courted a deluge of media attention for her luxury Lulu Lytle makeover of No 11, lockdown parties, and extravagant tastes. Even Mrs Rishi Sunak was proudly paraded everywhere from Yorkshire to global summits, discussing loading the dishwasher and pretending she was just like the rest of us – despite being one of the world’s richest women.

By contrast, Lady Starmer, a former solicitor and proud occupational health professional, has flown almost entirely under the radar over the past 12 months. Fiercely private about the family’s home life, she’s not one to do a sit-down interview with a glossy magazine. When she did grace the cover of Tatler, the profile had to be stitched together from quotes by those close to her. Described as a “spectral presence” whom many in Labour circles have never met, friends were said to be “terrified of saying much about Victoria – even when it was complimentary”.

In the past year, Victoria Starmer has only appeared fleetingly at a handful of official events. She was there to turn on Downing Street’s Christmas lights, at an 80th anniversary celebration of VE Day, and during an emotional return to Auschwitz for a Holocaust memorial. We also saw her at a Taylor Swift Eras tour concert, in the Wimbledon Royal Box, and at the Vatican for Pope Francis’s funeral.

While Keir Starmer told The Observer that, after the row over accepting expensive gifts – including tickets to see Swift with his family – what really upset him was his wife being dubbed “Lady Victoria Sponger”, her disappearing act is certainly not a case of having a thin skin, but more a positive and empowered decision by Victoria to just do things differently.

If there is a normal life to be had in Downing Street (where they live in the larger flat at No 11), Victoria has seemingly achieved the impossible and managed it. Her husband generally avoids having meetings or drinks with colleagues back at the flat, so it’s kept very much as a family zone – just like their home in Kentish Town. With no interest in being a public figure, Lady Vic has had a year of simply nipping off to work, looking after her teenage children, and mostly staying well away from photo calls or wifely appearances to soften her husband’s image.

Of course, nature abhors a vacuum – and just like with the Princess of Wales, Victoria’s lack of public profile has led to some pretty wild speculation about their marriage. But wisely, instead of attending to these vicious lies, Victoria has brushed off any malicious gossip, preferring to defuse rumours through quiet and steady support behind closed doors.

And it feels very refreshing to have a PM’s spouse who is doing an ordinary gig in the NHS, feeding back the reality of life on the ground, instead of sacrificing her independence to swan around with other political spouses at G7 summits. As a highly intelligent and photogenic woman, she is a potent and valuable asset to her husband. But even more important – to the rest of womankind – is her refusal to be used as a Wag trophy or to publicly play a part in a power couple. This matters. For centuries, it’s been assumed that men who take big jobs – whether as ambassadors abroad or as top politicians – will have a wife who comes as part of the BOGOF package: providing social oil, hosting dinners, remembering names, and making everyone feel welcome and looked after.

Given the dire state of never-here-Keir’s current standing within the Labour Party (how did a PM with a landslide majority read his backbenchers’ mood so badly he ended up having to torpedo his own disability benefit reform bill to avoid a humiliating defeat?), I don’t doubt the pressure could be on his wife to change the mood – to appear in public, to show her husband in a more positive light.

Even the incomparable Michelle Obama was called upon to introduce Barack, talking about how she loved him despite his stinky socks and late-night almond habit (he would never eat more than seven nuts). Such wives were expected to work like Trojans behind the scenes to prop up the husband’s public role. (Anyone else remember Norma Major and her publicly paraded frozen grated cheese in Tupperware to make John Major seem more relatable and thrifty? Or even Mr May, wheeled out in shots of their annual walking holiday in the Swiss Alps to try and convince us that Theresa was human after all?)

But Lady Vic has said goodbye to all that. Everything about her suggests that she will stick to her guns and resist being trotted out to improve Keir’s standing with the public. Letting her husband get on with the job, while she gets on with hers, is what she does best. And she should be applauded for sticking to her principles – keeping her kids out of the spotlight and carrying on as normal, even when it’s not really normal at all. Something I was reminded of yesterday as I walked down the street where the Starmer family home was firebombed in May.

The charred brickwork was a stark example of the high personal cost that political families pay for being in the public eye. It’s Vic’s sister who lives there now, and she was upstairs with her partner when the front door was set alight. “She happened to still be awake,” Keir told his biographer last month, “so she heard the noise and got the fire brigade. But it could have been a different story.”

Vic is all too aware of the dangers in a highly polarised world. I vividly remember pro-Palestinian groups leaving piles of children’s shoes outside the Starmer home and demonstrating against Keir’s policies on our high street. No doubt she has had bile thrown at her family because of her Jewish roots and faith. Last month marked nine years since Labour MP Jo Cox – a beloved wife and mother – was murdered in her constituency, stabbed 15 times. The risk is real; many senior politicians receive near-daily death threats.

In such a highly charged, toxic environment, Victoria’s conviction to stay firmly below the parapet is entirely understandable and sensible. The risk to her teenage kids (whom Keir has said he wants to be able to walk to school and live their own lives – we don’t even know the name of their younger child) is real. We should be pleased that Victoria has resisted the kind of family photo calls beloved of the Blairs, Camerons, or even the Browns. Today, there are no halfway houses. You either play the publicity game – or you totally don’t.

Instead, Vic has pursued her own independence, protecting herself and her kids in the process. Their dad has chosen to be PM—the rest of the family hasn’t. She has honoured their commitment to staying out of the limelight.

As we hit the first anniversary of the first family moving into Downing Street – well done, Lady Vic. You’ve played a blinder.

Major fire shuts part of London Underground causing commuter chaos

Commuters in London are facing severe disruptions this morning (Friday 4) after a major fire brought Tube trains to a halt.

The blaze began underneath railway arches in Roxeth Green Avenue in South Harrow around 1am.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) deployed 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines to contain the fire, which was under control by 4am.

There are no reports of injuries.

However, parts of the Piccadilly line between South Harrow and Uxbridge remain closed.

Transport for London (TfL) reports that there are also severe delays on the westbound line only between Acton Town and South Harrow.

London Underground tickets are being accepted on local bus services in the interim.

LFB received the first of around 40 calls about the fire at 1.18am and mobilised crews from Harrow, Wembley, Stanmore, Ruislip and surrounding fire stations to the scene.

Two 32-metre turntable ladders attended and were used as water towers to help extinguish the fire from above.

A drone was also deployed, providing the Incident Commander with a greater situational awareness of the incident.

Road closures are currently in place in Roxeth Green Avenue, near the junction of The Arches, and are expected to remain in place through the morning.

Roxeth Green Avenue connects the Northolt Park area in the southwest to the Roxeth area of Harrow in the north.

It runs underneath the Piccadilly Line near the junction with The Arches, an industrial road which takes traffic northeast towards Rayners Lane.

According to the LFB, an unknown number of gas cylinders at the site are believed to have exploded during the early stages of the incident.

Firefighters safely removed two further cylinders and cooled them to an ambient temperature, as gas cylinders can explode when exposed to heat.

Local residents were advised by authorities to keep their windows and doors closed because of the smoke.

The cause of the fire, which severely damaged vehicle workshops, businesses and other commercial properties, is under investigation.

First UK Universal theme park aiming to build tallest rides in Europe

The new Universal Studios theme park that will be built in the UK could have some of the tallest rides in Europe, planning documents show.

Visitors to the theme park in Bedford are likely to see rides based on the studio’s most famous film franchises, including Minions, Jaws and Jurassic Park.

The American film production and distribution company has sought planning permission through a special development order, which would allow the government to approve the plans rather than through the local council.

Universal Studios said it could build structures in the theme park reaching up to 377ft (115m), including rides, the new planning documents show.

“The reason for proposing structures up to this maximum height is to allow the proposed theme park to compete with other attractions in Europe,” the proposal said.

“Although the Universal Orlando Resort does not currently have attractions up to this height, taller attractions are more common in Europe, where rides need to be taller to create the experience, as space is more constrained,” it added.

Currently, Thorpe Park’s Hyperia is the tallest and fastest theme park ride in Britain, exceeding speeds of 80mph and ascending to heights of 72 metres along nearly a kilometre of track.

Red Force, a 367-foot (112m) rollercoaster at PortAventura World in Spain, is the largest in Europe.

According to the plans, the majority of the park’s structures will be between 20 and 30m tall, with some larger ones adding “visual interest” to the skyline.

“Building attractions that are higher, rather than over greater areas, also makes the best use of land which is in line with planning policy,” they added.

The amusement park hopes to receive 8.5 million visitors each year, with 55,000 expected to attend during peak times such as the school summer holidays.

A minimum of 7,106 parking spaces will be available, 100 coach spaces and 250 cycle spaces, with several travel routes running throughout the site.

As part of the planning proposals, Universal is hoping to build the necessary infrastructure to support visiting traffic by creating a new A421 junction and a dual carriageway access road, as well as expanding the Wixams rail station and providing a shuttle bus service from the Thameslink line.

The park is hoping to secure planning permission in time to open for 2031, with the aim of employing 8,500 staff which will hopefully rise to 10,000 by 2051.

“We anticipate that approximately 80 per cent of those working at the theme park and resort once operational will come from the local area – specifically from the local authority areas of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes,” the documents read.

Surrounding roads would also be improved, while the documents explain that some houses have been purchased close to the site, and the firm is considering buying a further 17 residential properties.

For visitors, there will also be a minimum of 500 hotel rooms on the site, as well as easy access to both London and Luton airports.

These planning documents submitted to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have been made public as part of the consultation process.

Consultation ends on 31 August, at which point the MHCLG will review comments and make a decision.

The Independent has contacted Universal Studios for further comment.

Trump told Putin is ‘mocking’ peace efforts as minister urges US to restore weapons

A Polish minister has told Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin is “mocking” his efforts towards peace, following a huge Russian air attack on Kyiv.

Moscow’s forces launched a record 539 drones and 11 missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukraine air force said. City authorities said at least 23 people were injured and heavy damage was sustained to railway infrastructure, buildings and cars.

The Polish consulate was among the buildings damaged, Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski said on X.

“President Trump, Putin is mocking your peace efforts,” he told the US president directly.

Mr Sikorski also called for Washington to fully restore the supply of weapons to Ukraine, after it partially halted transfers over concerns regarding its remaining stockpiles in the US.

“Please restore supplies of anti-aircraft ammunition to Ukraine and impose tough new sanctions on the aggressor,” Mr Sikorski said.

The strikes came just hours after Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin held a phone call, which the US president said resulted in “no progress at all” towards peace in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Dutch and German intelligence agencies both said on Friday Russia has made “widespread” use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill star Michael Madsen dies aged 67

Prolific actor Michael Madsen, known for starring in numerous Quentin Tarantino movies, has died. He was 67.

Madsen, whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Thursday morning from a cardiac arrest, his manager, Ron Smith, said.

According to TMZ, authorities found the Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs actor unresponsive at his Malibu home. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A representative for the actor told the tabloid that over the last two years, Madsen had “been doing some incredible work with independent film, including upcoming feature films Resurrection Road, Concessions and Cookbook for Southern Housewives, and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life.”

His team additionally said that he was preparing to release a new book titled Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems.

The Independent has contacted Madsen’s representatives for further comment.

Madsen was born September 25, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois, to Elaine, a filmmaker and author, and Calvin, a World War II Navy veteran and firefighter. His two sisters, Virginia and Cheryl, are also actors. In fact, the former is best known for her Oscar-nominated role in Alexander Payne’s 2004 romcom Sideways.

During his decades-long career, Madsen amassed more than 70 film and TV credits. His breakthrough came in Tarantino’s directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, in which he starred as the sadistic criminal Mr. Blonde, who tortured a policeman by slicing off his ear.

That marked the beginning of a long and storied collaboration between Madsen and Tarantino, despite pushback from now-disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

“Harvey never liked me,” Madsen told The Independent in 2020. “I don’t know if he ever liked anybody, but I know for a fact he didn’t like me. He never wanted me in any of Quentin’s movies. I think I’m only in them because Quentin stood up for me every single time and said I’m going to use Michael whether you like it or not.”

Madsen went on to portray villains and anti-heroes in several of Tarantino’s other cult classics, including Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2 (2003–2004), The Hateful Eight (2015), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

His other notable acting credits include 1991’s Thelma & Louise, 1996’s Mulholland Falls, 1997’s Donnie Brasco, and 2005’s Sin City.

“The type of character I think I play really well is somebody who’s not perfect, who’s a little rough around the edges not out of a GQ magazine, and might have a cigarette now and then or need a shave,” he added in his interview with The Independent, “but you can bet your ass I’m gonna do the right thing. That’s the real Michael more than anything, and I just wish it was captured on film.”

He was preceded in death by his 26-year-old son, Hudson, who died by suicide in 2022. In 2024, he filed for divorce from his wife of 28 years, DeAnna Madsen, alleging that her “neglect, drinking, and alcoholism” contributed to their son’s death.

Madsen and DeAnna shared two other sons, Calvin, 27, and Luke, 18. He also had sons, Christian, 34, and Max, 30, from his previous marriage to actor Jeannine Bisignano.

How to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before

What comes to mind when you think of a fundraising coffee morning? Soggy digestives, weak tea and sitting in a school hall having forced fun? Think again.

Macmillan Cancer Support are celebrating 35 years of the iconic Coffee Morning fundraiser, and we’re here to help you give your next Coffee Morning a glow-up. Behind the fun, Coffee Mornings help raise vital funds for people facing one of the toughest challenges of their lives.

Almost one in two people in the UK will get cancer in their lifetime, and no two experiences are the same. Where you live, who you are, or whether you have another health condition can all affect the care you receive – and that’s not fair. Macmillan is working to change that, doing whatever it takes to make sure everyone gets the best possible care, whoever and wherever they are.

So while tasty treats and fundraising fun of course get to stay, we’re leveling up the atmosphere with fresh ideas to keep everyone entertained.

Want to be a Coffee Morning Host?

Best of all, these new ways of raising vital funds don’t have to be expensive. In fact, they might even save you a bit of time, wardrobe space and money. Here’s how to host a Macmillan Coffee Morning like you’ve never seen before…

Organise a ‘style swap shop’

Clear out your wardrobe, raise money and bring your community together all at the same time by organising a ‘style swap shop’ – with all your finest, unworn or unwanted clothes and accessories.

Pack up the majestic hats you bought for a wedding but only wore once, the satin gloves that make you feel like Audrey Hepburn but don’t go with anything you own, or maybe that lace vintage dress your aunty wore to Glastonbury in the 70s, which now lives in an unexplored drawer in your bedroom.

Fill up a bag with your best cast-offs and get your friends, family and neighbours to do the same. Everyone pays £5 entry to the ‘style swap shop’ and then you all get to browse through each other’s preloved treasures – grabbing what takes your fancy.

One person’s hand-me-down is another person’s new look – so elbows at the ready! Want to raise extra cash? Add a £1-£2 price tag on each item that’s been donated.

Strut your stuff at a cake walk

We know that staying healthy and being physically active can reduce the risk of cancer, so why not combine the classic Coffee Morning with a walk around the block? Creative costumes, silly hats and streamers at the ready as we leave behind the school hall and instead take our cakes and cookies for a little jaunt to stretch our legs.

Up the fun, and the stakes, by upgrading from a cake walk to a cake race – the bigger and messier the dessert, the better!  And get the kids involved in the baking and racing too.

Or if you want to keep it indoors, turn your catwalk into a cake walk and give your best strut with your favourite pudding in hand. It’s giving egg and spoon race, jelly wobbling on a plate and doubling over with laughter as you sashay along clutching a platter filled with your finest roulade.

Dance away the morning at a sober rave

Why sit or stand when you can dance? Sober raves are all the rage – and ideal for a morning of fun with friends, family and neighbours. There’s no hangover, no late night and the kids can join in too – so, no need for a babysitter.

Grab your glow sticks for a Coffee Morning like no other, and you can still eat cake and have a brew or a cold drink. It’s a club night where nobody has to worry about the morning-after-the-night-before! You can host it in any hall, all you need is music and a disco ball.

You might feel silly at first, but soon you’ll be grinning with joy as dancing is proven to release endorphins (natural painkillers and mood boosters) as well as reducing stress and keeping you fit. Now, who does a good Big fish, little fish, cardboard box?

Run an Is it cake? competition

If you haven’t seen the Netflix hit Is it cake? – an American game show-style cooking competition, you’re missing a treat. Contestants compete to both identify and recreate their best version of everyday items – in cake form.

That could be fire hoses made from vanilla sponge and icing, kitchen utensils that cut open to reveal red velvet cake, replica designer handbags that are actually edible, and even other food items such as burgers, which are of course, cake.

Up the baking ante by running your own cake lookalike competition inspired by the show. The best thing about it is that even if your cake looks like a pair of stinky old sports shoes, it’ll still taste great!

Whether you’re swapping styles, raving sober or sculpting a sponge handbag, every slice of fun helps Macmillan Cancer Support do whatever it takes to help everyone living with cancer.

Signing up to host your own Macmillan Coffee Morning this year couldn’t be easier! Find out more today on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Lewis Hamilton eyes strong start in practice at Silverstone

F1 next heads back to the scene of the sport’s first ever race 75 years ago as Silverstone hosts the British Grand Prix and round 12 of the 2025 season.

Lando Norris secured a vital and much-needed win last time out in Austria, thwarting a challenge from McLaren teammate and championship rival Oscar Piastri. The Australian driver’s lead is now 15 points after the first 11 races.

Charles Leclerc picked up the final podium place for Ferrari, while Max Verstappen retired after being hit by Kimi Antonelli. Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has been the topic of much discussion this week – the Dutchman has been linked with a move to Mercedes, potentially replacing arch rival George Russell in 2026.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, finished fourth in Austria and will be eyeing his first podium for Ferrari as he takes to his home track for the first time in red. Hamilton memorably won last year’s race, his ninth victory at Silverstone.

Follow live coverage of the British GP with The Independent

After Labour’s first year, Starmer could learn from ‘one-term Attlee’

On the first anniversary of Keir Starmer’s general election win, there will no doubt be much comment about what his government has achieved in its first year – and, more likely, where it has fallen short of expectations.

The general feeling appears to be one of disappointment, with Starmer’s net approval rating at a record low, after the first double-digit decline in public support since a general election since John Major’s Conservative administration in the 1990s.

Starmer’s first year as prime minister has been characterised by a series of U-turns, following rebellion within his own ranks.

But it is the following day, this Saturday, 5 July, that will mark a far more consequential anniversary: the general election of 1945, which – after a count lasting several weeks – made Clement Attlee the first Labour prime minister with a majority government.

Eighty years on, it seems fitting to revisit that government – its style and achievements, as well as the qualities of Attlee – who was to lead the nation in succession to the great war leader, Winston Churchill. What, if anything, can Starmer and his team learn from that post-war administration?

Although many people were surprised by Labour’s success in July 1945, the writing had already been on the wall for Churchill’s Tories. The monthly Gallup opinion poll which, while not scrutinised in the forensic way that polls are today, had consistently pointed to a strong Labour showing throughout the war years. And ideas of how to build a better post-war nation in areas such as health, welfare and education, dominated thinking and debate – not least among servicemen and women overseas.

Attlee’s Labour campaign offered a clear blueprint based on their manifesto, Let Us Face the Future, and the people voted for it. By contrast, in 2024, while nearly everyone expected Starmer’s Labour Party to win last year, it was far less clear what Labour might be offering in government, except the rather nebulous concept of “change”.

Even before the election, Starmer had been criticised for abandoning many of the planks of the platform on which he won the party leadership. His government has, so far at least, struggled to articulate a clear vision and sense of direction.

At times, Starmer, unlike Attlee, has even appeared to be blaming the system for the government’s shortcomings, and using the allegation (also made by Tony Blair) that the supposed levers of power do not seem to be connected to anything. This is a poor substitute for looking to his ministers to roll up their sleeves, address the issues and deliver.

The second factor in the success of the 1945 government was the quality of the team assembled and led by Attlee. The government front bench included many experienced political heavyweights with substantial ministerial experience gained during the wartime coalition – people like Ernest Bevin, the former trade union leader and wartime minister of Labour, who led the Foreign Office, and Herbert Morrison, who had been home secretary during the war. Attlee himself had been deputy prime minister to Churchill, with a wide-ranging brief.

By contrast, Starmer, like Blair in 1997, arrived in No 10 with no ministerial experience whatsoever. And, of his cabinet, only three members – Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband – have ever been full cabinet ministers before.

But the most striking factor of the Attlee government was its output. From day one, the government was relentlessly focused on the demobilisation of over 3 million returning servicemen and women, and their reintegration into post war life in Britain. The economy became far more centralised, with the nationalisation of the Bank of England only seven months after the election, and later of the “commanding heights of the economy”.

There were also big changes through expanding the social role of government, by implementing the recommendations of the 1942 Beveridge Report and, most notably, through the creation of the National Health Service by the health secretary, Aneurin Bevan, three years after the election.

Add to that the Festival of Britain – Morrison’s brainchild – which brought a sense of energy and enthusiasm to the country after the dark days of the war. The government even finally achieved universal suffrage, with the abolition of the university vote, which had given some people at certain universities two votes rather than one. All in all, it was quite a record of domestic policy which, so far at least, does not look like being matched by the current government.

Internationally, Attlee’s administration helped shape the post-war world, too. From the Potsdam conference to the new economic framework based on the Bretton Woods agreement, to the oversight of the transition to independence for India in 1947 his government was at the forefront. And, in 1949, Nato was founded with Bevin heading UK negotiations. This, coupled with Attlee’s determination to procure a UK nuclear capability, designed the nation’s post-war defence framework, which is now under such strains.

Starmer so far seems much more comfortable operating on the international front, where his legalistic approach and attention to detail have worked in his favour. But it is on the domestic front where he needs to up his game.

None of the achievements of the 1945 government would have been possible without Attlee’s leadership: quiet, undemonstrative, yet ruthlessly efficient and intolerant of poor performance. The phrase about not suffering fools gladly could have been made for him.

He was determined to raise living standards and respond to the aspirations of everyone. He was committed to abolishing the poverty that he had witnessed in east London some 30 years previously. He strove to build a new world order so that, never again, would young men have to fight – as he had done in the First World War – or to defeat Nazism as the nation had just done in the Second World War. Attlee was the leader who made this happen.

Why, then, with such a body of achievement delivered in only six years, was Attlee defeated in 1951?

On one level, his government simply “ran out of steam”. There was no new programme of work designed for the 1950s. Most of his ministers were exhausted – some were ill or dying. Ellen Wilkinson, his education minister, and Bevin, both died in office.

Nevertheless, in the 1951 election, Labour achieved the highest percentage vote of any party in post-war history, with 48.8 per cent.

However, the Conservatives, with a smaller 48.0 per cent of the vote, won more seats in the House of Commons and Churchill returned as prime minister. By way of contrast, last year Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won only 33.7 per cent of the vote.

Had someone asked Attlee in 1946 what had been his successes and failures of his first year – a question that Starmer has faced – the election-winner of 1945 might have struggled to choose from his many achievements during his first 12 months in office. He would certainly have been very unlikely to have said that his greatest failure had been “not telling our story as well as we should”.

Alun Evans CBE is chair trustee of The Attlee Foundation. He is also a historian and political consultant and a former civil servant