Call off the search to discover Starmerism. It is already beginning to reveal itself | Andrew Rawnsley

The meaty king's speech heralded several striking and radical departures from the Tory years that came before

When Labour was in opposition, but looking very likely to be the next government, some intrepid explorers gathered together all the food and water they could carry and set off in search of Starmerism. Those hardy souls who made it back from the quest invariably reported that, if such a thing existed, they had not managed to locate it. This came as no surprise to elements of both left and right who always maintained that the Labour leader's animating philosophy was a terra incognita because he stood for nothing. Keir doesn't really have any politics," some of his close colleagues would whisper to me over a lunch table or a cup of tea, saying this in a disapproving tone of voice. That critique persisted through the election campaign, during which the most frequent complaint about the Labour leader was that he was impossible to pin down.

Well, you can call off the search parties now. This is turning out to be a very political government led by a very political prime minister accompanied by a very political cabinet. Sir Keir is still confusing people somewhat by declaring that he leads a government unburdened by doctrine", but the ideological contours of the new order are already coming into focus.