Sir Keir Starmer, left, working with Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn

AS Sir Keir Starmer moved to kill Jeremy Corbyn’s career as a Labour MP this week, the question on many people’s lips was how, if he felt Mr Corbyn was so objectionable, he could have served for so long in his shadow cabinet.

In fact, the Holborn and St Pancras MP has referred to Mr Corbyn as a “friend” in the past; the two share a constituency border and are both devoted Arsenal fans.

After Mr Starmer took control of the party, he said in a speech in January 2020: “Jeremy Corbyn made our party the party of anti-austerity. He made us the party that wanted to invest more heavily in our public services and he was right to do so. We build on that, we don’t trash it.”

Mr Starmer had been one of the most high profile figures in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet and been the face of the party’s response to Brexit. In doing so, he twice worked to get Mr Corbyn elected as prime minister.

Mr Starmer said during this time he made it clear he was unhappy with how anti-Semitism reports were being dealt with.

Recently, he has said he has had no contact with Mr Corbyn.

When asked by LBC’s News Agents podcast recently, who he would rather watch an Arsenal game with – Mr Corbyn or the incessant, motormouth TV host Piers Morgan ­– he speedily chose Mr Morgan.

And in speeches, he now talks about the previous leadership negatively, announcing on Wednesday that he had changed it from a “party of dogma to a party of patriotism, from a party of protest to a party of public service”. He added that the party was now “unrecognisable” from when Mr Corbyn was in charge “and it will never go back, it will never be a party captured by narrow interests”.

In reply, Mr Starmer has been accused by critics of abandoning a left wing agenda which he had previously pledged to follow, including policies of public ownership. The handling of the selection process for future candidates has also been a sore point.