James Kirkup Jean-Claude Van Starmer is outfoxing the Tories' favourite black-ops plan

I DON'T believe anyone has ever compared Sir Keir Starmer to Jean-Claude Van Damme, so I'm going to be the first here. Because in one vital way, the mild-mannered Labour leader is very like the muscle-bound Belgian star of numerous Nineties kick-em-up action flicks: he's a very Hard Target.

Not for want of trying. Right now, significant efforts are being made by the Conservatives and their allies on a project that could determine whether Starmer gets to be PM, and for how long. That project, part of the "black ops" side of politics that voters rarely get to hear about, is all about finding ways to paint Starmer as dangerous, radical, extremely Left-wing or otherwise threatening.

Failing that is on failure and the smart money the next Tory objective is to depict him as the frontman for a dangerous and radical Labour team.

Abig part of the Conservative election strategy is making people if not actively frightened of Starmer as PM then at least a little uncertain and nervous about that prospect.

This is their classic technique. For decades, Conservatives have been depicting Labour opponents as too dangerous to trust with the country and the economy. Ed Miliband is basically a boring policy geek but that didn't prevent David Cameron's team in 2015 casting him as "Red Ed", who would bring "chaos" to Britain. We all remember how that turned out.