The Book of Common Prayer asks that those who ‘suffer for the sake of conscience’ might be strengthened. Those prayers were answered on Tuesday morning. Sir Olly Robbins, the not so permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, demonstrated a calmness and strength of purpose in upholding the duties of his office which shamed the prime minister who sacked him. The suffering civil servant, who told the committee that he knew sections of both the civil service code and the Book of Common Prayer by heart, was vindicated. Sir Keir Starmer was revealed, by contrast, as not so much a king led astray by evil counsel but a whited sepulchre – professedly virtuous but corrupted within.

Sir Olly acted under the direction of Keir Starmer’s office, which insisted he approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson to the Washington embassy. That appointment was only vetted because Sir Olly’s predecessor had insisted on due process in the face of the Prime Minister’s disdain for it. Sir Olly followed that process thoroughly, conscientiously and with a scrupulous care for both institutional integrity and national security. He balanced his duty to the political leadership of the government with his responsibility to mitigate the risks of their recklessness. And for this exercise of fine judgment, respect for ministers and patriotic attachment to duty he was fired. By the man who came to office promising to restore respect for public service.

All humans err. All prime ministers have weaknesses. But this prime minister has made error his hallmark and weakness his choice. He has appointed two chiefs of staff and then sacked them both under pressure – for mistakes which were his own. He sacked the cabinet secretary he himself appointed – for mistakes which were his own. He has now sacked the head of the Foreign Office that he himself appointed – for mistakes which were his own. In this age of economic insecurity, no job is quite as perilous as being the handpicked choice of this prime minister. A greater atmosphere of fraternal trust operates in the Corleone family than exists in this government.

It is not just his lieutenants who have suffered from betrayals at once calculating and inept, cruel and pathetic. The Prime Minister has retreated on cutting winter fuel payments, reforming welfare, changing inheritance tax, compulsory ID cards, international development assistance, abolishing leasehold, the arrangement of local elections, the future of the Chagos Islands, the grooming gangs inquiry and the two-child benefit cap. Some of these changes are welcome reversals of earlier folly – but all of them are illustrations of irresolution. They have weakened our confidence in what ministers say they will do, and weakened confidence among those ministers that the Prime Minister has their back. Truly, Keir Starmer is the jellyfish of British politics – transparent, spineless and swept along by any incoming tide.

Given the scale of the nation’s challenges – rising inflation, anaemic growth, flatlining productivity, millions economically inactive, energy prices higher than anywhere in the developed world, manufacturing in decline, hospitality crippled, the wealthy and enterprising departing, the numbers on welfare accumulating, the health service consumed by another internal costly re-organisation, higher education a Ponzi scheme, farmers suffering, food security undermined, illegal migration uncontrolled, extremism unchecked, anti-Semitic violence escalating, the army unable to recruit properly, the navy incapable of putting warships to sea, housebuilding stalling, the property market flatlining, taxes increasing and enterprise crushed, to list just a few – it might seem frivolous to focus on personnel processes within government. But the treatment of Olly Robbins helps explain the problem underlying all these other crises: we have a prime minister who is purposeless, his only remaining impulse a bare survival instinct.

A country at once overtaxed and under-invested in, with a welfare budget that needs deep surgery and a pathetically under-resourced military, requires clear, authoritative leadership. As we have argued, repeatedly, this means the radical overhaul of state entitlements: an end to the pension triple lock, the return of the two-child benefit cap, far tougher in-person tests for incapacity benefit and a stop to the system of incentives which has led a fifth of the population to label itself disabled.

We have a prime minister who is purposeless, his only remaining impulse a bare survival instinct

Labour’s energy policy has to be reversed, given that it cripples industry and makes us dependent on foreign supply. Higher education needs to serve this country’s needs, not China’s ambitions or vice-chancellors’ greed, and the twin evils of Islamist extremism and ethno-nationalism require the most robust response. We also need reform of the water industry and financial regulation, bravery on gene-editing and imagination in facing the challenge of AI.

Is there anyone in the Labour party, let alone the country, who thinks Keir Starmer even begins to be equal to these problems? Is there anyone who now thinks that he can build, and retain the loyalty of, a team that can meet and master these challenges? The King opens a new session of parliament on 13 May. He, and we, deserve a new prime minister by then.