The Reshuffle: How do the Reds and the Blues star players match up after their half-time substitutions?

As Labour looks to step up its attacking pressure, Sean O’Grady tells us what to expect from the new team formations

Keir Starmer’s new shadow cabinet (PA)

Rather like football, politics is a highly tribal pursuit full of stars and brilliant players, but in the end, it’s a team sport. This week and last the Conservative and Labour “team managers” moved some of their players around in an effort to sharpen up the attack as well as shoring up their more defensive lines. For the parliamentary term just kicking off, the Labour side looks to have the advantage in terms of man/woman to woman/man marking…

Education: Gillian Keegan v Bridget Phillipson

Two Northern women, the Tory growing up in Liverpool and the other, a Geordie, well matched on paper but the gap between the pair on the political pitch is striking. Keegan’s recent F-bomb hot mic moment was something of a shocking own goal just before half time – and would have been even more embarrassing if the school buildings scandal wasn’t an even bigger disaster. Keegan can show a sort of dogged, resigned stamina at the despatch box, but it’s Phillipson who shows cool composure in front of goal, albeit quite often her counterpart gifts her an open goal. A fairly new arrival, Keegan might find herself out in the next transfer window. Phillipson’s value, meanwhile, is growing with every week.