Pedro Sánchez has remained a rare bulwark of social democracy in an increasingly right-leaning continent

As Labour’s electoral honeymoon slips into distant-memory territory and Keir Starmer attempts to reboot his premiership, the party and its leader might find a southward glance instructive.

For the past six years, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE), led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has defied expectations by remaining in power during some of the most turbulent times in recent Spanish and European history, making it a rare bulwark of social democracy in an increasingly right-leaning continent.