The best time to see a country’s political culture is immediately before or after an election. That’s when unspoken national assumptions about how to use power, and how to treat political opponents, are laid bare. Almost uniquely, three great western democracies are in this phase simultaneously: the UK and France just held elections, while the US is steeling itself for its own confrontation. The differences between the countries are fascinating and sometimes shocking.

Britain’s transition of power has been cheery. After the Conservatives’ landslide defeat on July 4, outgoing chancellor Jeremy Hunt described the new prime minister Keir Starmer and his own successor Rachel Reeves as “decent people and committed public servants”. Last week Starmer and his predecessor Rishi Sunak chatted and laughed in the Commons, like work pals catching up after a holiday.

That is despite the fact that Britain’s transition of power is extremely consequential. This is the most winner-take-all system of any major democracy. Starmer and Sunak were chatting straight after the King’s speech presented Labour’s packed legislative programme. Starmer has acquired unassailable control of parliament by winning just a third of the vote. Even most Conservatives and Reform voters seem to accept that: they believe he has “a mandate to radically change Britain”, according to polling by the NGO More in Common. Absurd though this is democratically, the British system is hallowed by more than three centuries without disaster — no invasions, civil wars, famines or revolutions.