As Britain gets mired in small-party politics, Starmer must think big to move Labour forward

The patron saint of small-party politics has been in town.

- Philip Collins

Emmanuel Macron styles himself as the saviour of the established order against the many varieties of populist insurgent but, in the disguised monarchy of the French Fifth Republic, Macron was the man who invented his own party, En Marche, when the established political order collapsed. The revolution he embraced has crossed the Channel and Macron is here, to talk to the prime minister, the king and the president of Imperial College London, on a mission to help.

The transition from large-party to small-party politics will be slower in Britain than in France. The electoral system takes time to contort and accommodate a reality that is already present in the nation. A parliamentary system requires victory in 326 localities for power to be awarded, not just a single charismatic king-elect. But the change is coming and that's why political readings have grown erratic. British politics is not yet in a state of equilibrium, still less in a state of grace. It is in a state of confusion.

No party is at all close to commanding the nation. Labour and the Conservatives have just 40% between them. But, for all the attention lavished on Reform UK, it is polling 26%, the same as the combined Liberal Democrat and Green vote. The overwhelming sense is volatility rooted in a desperate lack of conviction. When asked by YouGov who they expect to be prime minister after the next election, 40% of people didn't know. When asked which party is setting the political terms, another 40% said they didn't know.