China trip has come at the worst possible time for PM

When Keir Starmer jetted off to Beijing yesterday, he became the first prime minister to visit China in eight years.

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But instead of a potential history-making journey or even the controversy of his visit, the prime minister may nervously be considering the fate of Margaret Thatcher in 1990, given his current travails with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Back then, the Iron Lady went to a dinner in the Palace of Versailles to celebrate the end of the Cold War in the midst of a vote on her leadership. After failing to get enough votes to see off Michael Heseltine, she came out of the dinner with her fate sealed and returned home to find she had, in effect, been deposed.

While Starmer has not quite reached the same crisis point in his premiership, it is fair to say that the plotting to remove him is now in full swing - whether it is attempts by Andy Burnham to return to parliament, or the machinations of his health secretary Wes Streeting or former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.

So this is maybe not the best time for a five-day trip to Beijing. While he is away, the plotting will only intensify, amid growing anger over the decision to block Burnham from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Meanwhile, the prime minister, who has been touring the tea rooms in recent weeks to calm the nerves of Labour MPs, will not be there to deal with it.

Starmer may have until the local elections in May before facing a reckoning, but a showdown seems to be coming sooner rather than later.