Another big business name backs Keir Starmer – is Rupert Murdoch next?

Larry Fink, billionaire boss of BlackRock, the investment company that employed George Osborne, has praised the Labour leader, writes John Rentoul. But will big money do Labour any favours?

Starmer was pleased to be awarded a coveted place on the sofa next to Murdoch at the mogul’s annual drinks party this summer (PA Wire)

I can exclusively reveal that conversations are taking place in Westminster over the possible defection of at least one Conservative MP to the Labour Party. Not because I have any direct knowledge of such talks, but because that is how politics works.

The mood of the times is tilting heavily in Labour’s favour. Whatever the outcome of today’s by-elections, Keir Starmer’s party is miles ahead in the national opinion polls, and big-name endorsements are coming thick and fast.

The latest is Larry Fink, the billionaire boss of BlackRock, the investment company that once employed George Osborne, who told a Wall Street Journal podcast: “I’m very pleased to see how the Labour Party in the UK went from an extremist party with a Marxist leader to Keir Starmer, who has shown real strength, as a moderate Labour Party.”