Keir Starmer's moment of judgment is fast approaching

The PM's choices later next month will define the course of his government

- Robert Peston

In the day job, I’ve tried to get the measure of most party leaders and prime ministers since the Eighties. There was one so dull that I nodded off in an upright position over lunch. Mostly I’ve had an idea of what makes them tick: Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher wanted to remake the UK in their own contrasting images; David Cameron and Boris Johnson were convinced of their entitlement to lead; Rishi Sunak saw government as a technocratic challenge; John Major and Theresa May were decent and proper; Gordon Brown had moral purpose.

Sir Keir Starmer, whom I ought to know the best — fellow north London Gooner, friend of friends — eludes me. I’ve spoken to him on and off the record many times since he became an MP in 2015. And although I can describe some of his important characteristics — he’s ruthless, tough, prone to being ponderous in decision-making, methodical — I can’t tell you why he was so determined to be Prime Minister.

This is why at Labour’s first conference since forming the new Government in July, in rainy Liverpool, I’ve been asking his colleagues what I’d see if the real Keir Starmer ever stood up, other than when Arsenal score. This is as good as it got, from a member of the Cabinet who should know him better than most: “He’s a progressive problem solver.” The eyes of another senior minister lit up when telling me about Starmer’s commitment to social justice and social mobility, what he calls “shattering the class ceiling”. Which is worthy, and I am sure true, but leaves me with a nagging feeling that there must be something else.