Politics ain’t what it used to be

There were no tanks in Whitehall, the King is still on his throne and the BBC is not broadcasting putschist propaganda, but there was a successful coup in Downing Street when Keir Starmer was forced toresign and Andy Burnham MP became UK prime minister on Monday.

The term a very British coup, is from the title of book by the former Labour MP and journalist Chris Mullin, published in 1982 and 1988 TV series about the removal by the British establishment of an imaginary left-wing prime minister...