You couldn’t make it up. The launch of Labour’s green revolution got off to a stuttering start in Edinburgh when the eco-friendly, hydrogen-powered bus booked to ferry journalists to Keir Starmer’s press conference failed to turn up.

No explanation was given and the vehicle was hurriedly replaced by a planet-destroying diesel, which promptly took the wrong turning after leaving the station.

Instead of heading east to Leith, the driver set off west towards Glasgow. Fortunately, Scottish Daily Mail reporter Tom Eden was able to point him in the right direction. Cue jokes about ‘another Labour U-turn’.

This wasn’t the first time a Labour leader had been left red-faced on the launchpad. Back in 1987, I was one of the Press pack covering Neil Kinnock’s General Election campaign.