In his first speech of a new year during which he hopes to turn Labour into a credible alternative government, Sir Keir Starmer identified his heroes as Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair. It was no coincidence that these are the only three party leaders to have won elections since 1945.

That fact alone is indicative of the electoral mountain that always faces the Labour Party. By contrast, eight Conservative post-war leaders have secured power outright at the ballot box. None of these, neither Labour nor Conservative, felt it necessary to declare their patriotism as a central tenet of their appeal to the country. It went without saying that Attlee and Wilson believed in Queen and country, or King in the former’s case.

As to Blair, while his patriotism was acknowledged, some of his constitutional reforms carried out in the name of the great god “modernisation” served to undermine institutions that are critical to national identity. But such was the damage wrought by Jeremy Corbyn and his merry band of north London Lefties on the perception of Labour that Sir Keir felt it necessary to reassert what should be taken for granted.

Appearing in Birmingham before two Union flags – something Labour previously derided government ministers for doing – he promised a new “contract with the British people” to uphold trust in a future Labour government. He would, he said, lead a patriotic party.

Sir Keir’s difficulties here are two-fold. First, he served in the shadow cabinet of a party leader whose legacy and very existence he now seeks to disavow. Many Blairites declined to serve alongside Mr Corbyn but Sir Keir not only did so but invited the country to install in No 10 as prime minister a leader he thinks was unfit for the task. Did he not know this then?

Second, Sir Keir is on record as having been a republican. In 2005, he commented on the irony of being appointed a Queen’s Counsel “since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy”. This is a perfectly legitimate political position, but not one for the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition to espouse.

We must accept that Sir Keir has changed his mind on this and can honestly describe himself, in the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, as a patriot and a monarchist. Whether the voters his party needs to win back will buy it is another matter altogether.