Coronavirus is Britain’s most significant crisis since 2008. It could develop into the most serious one since the Second World War. This a moment when decisive leadership matters. Yet aside from a carefully worded statement by the outgoing Jeremy Corbyn, this has unfortunately been lacking from the Labour Party.

Despite the death toll doubling to twenty-one this morning, Sir Keir Starmer’s latest email doesn’t even mention coronavirus. In fact, he hasn’t tweeted about the situation in three days — only referencing it in the context of the budget. Rebecca Long-Bailey has echoed union calls for improved sick pay and workers’ protection, but nothing more. Lisa Nandy is arguing for a “Marshall Plan” for coronavirus without offering much by way of specifics as to what that would mean. None of the leadership candidates could be said to be challenging the government’s woefully inadequate response to coronavirus effectively.

But they are not even the worst Labour has to offer — special attention must be given to Sadiq Khan, whose own mayoral race has now been postponed. After defending the government’s response to the outbreak from criticisms by former Tory Rory Stewart (who, depressingly, has offered a far more serious and humane response to the crisis than any major Labour figure), he went out of his way to praise Boris Johnson, saying that he “can’t fault” him, and encouraged the public to give him credit for engaging in basic democratic accountability such as not restricting questions only to “his mates.”