Political column - July 13

The waves of relief pulsating from the capital are almost palpable. The adults are back in the room, they're saying. And they're including Angela Rayner in that.

Sir Keir Starmer has hit the ground running. The last time I heard a new Prime Minister described as hitting the ground running was when Liz Truss launched her bold Budget for growth.

Sir Keir has already seen lots of people and said lots of stuff. In the space of just a few days he has pressed the reset button. The new government is getting down to business.

Of course, the various crises will take years to solve, but they're making a start. They must already be some way down the line in designing the uniforms and renting offices for the new Border Security Command which will stop the boats.

David Lammy is the choice for making Brexit work. He has lost no time in seeing European leaders in an effort to establish an improved relationship, going out of his way to stress that they are our European friends and partners.

This is long overdue. The EU rarely if ever describes Britain as a friend and partner, so giving them an opportunity to abandon their hostility to our nation and to mend their relations with us is a good thing all round.

Wes Streeting has said official government policy is that the NHS is broken, and the Tories are to blame. There are no quick fixes.

Housing crisis? There are green fields – sorry, grey fields – just begging to be built on, cheek by jowl with lots of new onshore wind farms.

There's no money, and under Labour's plans there is not an intention to spend all that much more money. But you never know, those plans may change, or evolve due to circumstances.

Although laid low Rishi Sunak can hold his head high, having shown himself to be decent, dignified, and capable while not necessarily being a very good politician. A more astute politician would have called the election in autumn, buying time for things to improve, relatively speaking, lessening the scale of the Tory wipeout and, if not achieving that, at least giving them more time to prepare their campaign.

As for the Tories generally, they are free at last of the burdens and responsibilities of office. They should throw some parties to make themselves feel better, complete with cake. They can then settle down to choosing a new leader from a grimly small pool of candidates.

A few reflections on the general election. The television coverage showed up a severe Dimbleby deficit in Britain today. I flicked over the channels hoping to find something calm and authoritative, but everywhere I looked prattling talking heads trumped factual information.

Out of brand loyalty I settled on the BBC where the coverage could be summarised as: "We missed that result, but we'll bring you the details later." They never did.

The election will be remembered for its Portillo moments but, thinking about it, this will be mythology, because there were none. To be a Portillo moment it has to be a genuine shock and surprise. There were instead some Iain Duncan Smith moments when Tory MPs shockingly held onto their seats.

There was of course what is being called a Liz Truss moment. Personally I have found the pleasure people have taken in exulting in the humiliation of somebody who served her country to be distasteful and cruel, and I feel for her family and her daughters.

To rub in Lizzie's pain a reporter asked her after her defeat if she "wanted to say sorry."

Politicians must expect to be criticised and rigorously held to account. But there is a modern trend which is more akin to bull-baiting, like those non-questions shouted at politicians across the street e.g. "Are you an incompetent liability, Minister?"

This is just ill-mannered heckling which bears no relation to genuine journalism.

If Liz Truss had grabbed the reporter's microphone and told him where to shove it, I would have had a certain amount of sympathy.