Keir Starmer and the march of the centrist dads

The Labour leader is joining Justin Trudeau for the most cuddly gathering in world politics, but there’s method in his meekness, writes John Rentoul

The centrist dads’ get-together in Montreal may seem like a cuddly gathering of the commonsensicals, but for Starmer it has a hard-edged purpose (PA)

The centrist revival is gathering pace. Centrist dads are generally self-mocking figures of fun, as anyone who has seen the video of Robert Peston and Ed Balls performing “Anarchy in the UK” in a band called the Centrist Dads will know.

But they also capture something of the mood of the times. Every other podcast these days seems to offer a variation on the theme, with Ed Balls and George Osborne now joining Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell in offering tension without toxicity – respectful disagreement that sits comfortably within the Overton window of bipartisan reasonableness.

This trend is a welcome antidote to the forces of chaos that have destabilised Western politics for so many years.