Labour's civil war over welfare has been a slow-motion car crash which was visible from space for months, but which was somehow not spotted in Downing Street for the mortal threat it represented.
Ministers finally scrambled to offer 'massive concessions' last night to avoid Sir Keir Starmer being given a bloody nose by his own MPs on the eve of his first anniversary in power.
By this late stage they had no choice but to give in to most of the rebels' demands, wiping out much of the £5billion savings and making a mockery of the PM's claim to have delivered meaningful savings to the bloated benefits bill.
The capitulation is the third U-turn in a month for Sir Keir following reverses on winter fuel and grooming gangs and has inevitably raised fresh questions about the judgment of the PM and his top team.
The scale and resilience of the welfare rebellion appears to have come as a shock to Downing Street, which has wasted a week orchestrating a fruitless attempt to bully and cajole MPs back into line.
