When the votes are counted in Makerfield on Thursday night, two political futures will be sealed in a single result.
One man may find his path to No 10 finally clear. The other maybe on his way back to the backbenches. Rarely has a by-election been such a sliding door moment, or carried such weight for the man who already holds the keys to Downing Street.
Keir Starmer’s day of reckoning comes as he returns from the G7 meeting of world leaders in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains – a summit that may prove to be his last turn on the world stage.
Shorts
The Prime Minister was determined to keep the focus on the international effort he and his global partners are making to secure a “just and lasting” peace in the Middle East and Ukraine. But the spectre of the Makerfield by-election was never far away.
