Peter Mandelson’s been sacked, and Angela Rayner’s jumped before she was pushed. The sacking of Lord Mandelson is the second time in less than a week that Keir Starmer has shoved a prominent member of his government out of the door.

No-one’s going to miss Mandelson. He should never have been appointed ambassador to the USA in the first place. Starmer clearly thought that the veteran Blairite’s supposed networking skills would help him build a position of trust with the Trump administration. But after media exposure of Mandelson’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious procurer who hanged himself in prison after being jailed for sex trafficking in New York, Mandelson’s position became untenable.

It emerged that he had coached Epstein through “years of torture” over under-age sex charges. He told Epstein that “your friends stay with you and love you” and he urged him to “fight for early release”. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was “completely disgusted” by the messages and Mike Tapp, the Home Officer minister, said they were “really disturbing and sickening”.

No-one’s going to miss Angela Rayner either. Compared to Mandelson the former deputy premier got off lightly, retreating to the backbenches over the furore over her failure to pay the correct amount of tax on one of her properties – something she insists was a genuine mistake.

This doesn’t bode well for Labour. Despite its immense parliamentary majority Starmer’s team already looks like a government on its last legs. The Faragists are snapping at their heels, while more and more Labour activists are swinging over to the Corbynistas and the Greens.

Starmer’s Blairite revival, a trashy imitation of a failed past, has brought Labour to its knees. The sooner they all go the better. No-one will miss them either…