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Sir Keir became Labour leader in April after beating rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy. The former shadow Brexit secretary replaced Jeremy Corbyn, who, in December 2019 led Labour to its worst election defeat since 1935.

Sir Keir has entered the role of Labour leader later at a point in history that cannot compare.

The coronavirus pandemic has gripped the world and the UK is now over two months into lockdown.

Yesterday, the party demanded a “very swift explanation” from Downing Street after reports emerged revealing how Dominic Cummings – Boris Johnson’s advisor – had flouted lockdown rules.

Both The Mirror and The Guardian reported on Friday night that Mr Cummings had travelled more than 250 miles to his parents home in Durham despite having shown symptoms of COVID-19.

A spokesperson for the party said: “If accurate, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser appears to have breached the lockdown rules. The Government’s guidance was very clear: stay at home and no non-essential travel.

“The British people do not expect there to be one rule for them and another rule for Dominic Cummings.

“Number 10 needs to provide a very swift explanation for his actions.”

Earlier in the week, Sir Keir found himself, with Mr Johnson, under the media’s spotlight after NHS hospital bosses accused the two of making the NHS a scapegoat for the coronavirus crises in care homes around the UK.

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NHS Providers has written to both the prime minister and the new Labour leader to urge them to end the “political blame game” over the issue.

It came as the two leaders debated over why patients had been discharged from hospitals to care homes at the height of the outbreak, without being tested for the disease.

Aside from the brief political scuffles, Sir Keir has been relatively quiet.

The former human rights lawyer is expected to bring the party back to the centre of the political spectrum after Mr Corbyn returned it to its socialist roots.

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Although often baited on the question, Sir Keir has refused to divulge his thoughts on his being a Tony Blair copy cat – the former Labour leader who spearheaded the “New Labour” movement on the turn of the century.

However, according to Peter McColl, a columnist at Open Democracy, Sir Keir in fact resembles Iain Duncan Smith – the former Tory leader and mastermind of the divisive Universal Credit scheme.

Mr McColl drew several parallels between the two leaders, the first being how their leadership launched in a time of relative uncertainty; Sir Keir’s during coronavirus; Mr Duncan Smith’s during the Foot and Mouth outbreak.

Similarly, Mr Duncan Smith’s rise to power came off the back end of a divided party.

Mr McColl explained: “But there’s a more profound similarity. For the Tory electorate choosing Duncan Smith was putting the key issues of the day at the heart of their party’s appeal: Labour were popular in 2001 on almost all issues, except for Europe.

“The salience of the European issue was, of course, the problem. It wasn’t – at that time – important for the electorate.

“Iain Duncan Smith was not a charismatic leader. His leadership came to an end with a Conservative Party Conference speech in which he tried to turn this to his advantage – ‘Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man’ was his line.

“At the following Prime Minister’s Questions, he was met by Labour MPs shushing the chamber for his question. He was removed by party grandees weeks later.

“Keir Starmer makes a similar appeal. He is serious, unshowy and competent. But his position on the key issues will sabotage him.

“The commitment to Remain that won him the leadership looks exactly like the Tory obsession with Europe in the early 2000s to many of the voters he needs to win back.”

Earlier this month, Sir Keir rejected calls for the Brexit transition period to be extended.

He explained he would rather “the negotiations were completed as quickly as possible”.

It came as a surprise to many given Sir Keir was a staunch Remainer, and how he clashed with former leader Jeremy Corbyn over the party’s stance on Brexit.

The deadline for agreeing to a further extension to the transition period is next month.

Many opposition parties, including the SNP and Liberal Democrats, have called for a hefty extension to be added on to the process given the current coronavirus pandemic.

Should an extension fail to be agreed, the UK will leave the EU at the end of the year with or without a deal.

Despite admitting it wasn’t practical to agree a deal by December, Sir Keir said he wanted to “see how we get on” in talks.

Asked whether he would support an extension with the deadline looming in June, Sir Keir told LBC Radio: “The Government says it’s going to get negotiations and a deal done by the end of the year.

“I’ve always thought that’s tight and pretty unlikely, but we’re going to hold them to that and see how they get on. They say they’re going to do it.”

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