Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
The Labour Left will be rather disappointed this morning. They needed a Tory win here in order to build (oho!) momentum behind their get-rid-of-Keir campaign.
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It is fun to watch them Twitter, they are having a bit of a meltdown. Having declared this a referendum on Starmer's - sorry 'Keith's' - leadership they're now belatedly trying to frame it in broader terms as being a poor result overall.
On paper this is a bad result but in the context the referendum took place it's a good one for Starmer.
It helps stop the narrative of decline/death that has been around the party since the New Year, it's a sign that the Tories' vaccine boost is wearing off (if you combine with the Aversham result) but most importantly they saw off a serious attempt to come at them from the left. The left you talk about have been trying to make a point that they can cost Labour an election if they're not given the prominence within the party they feel is their right, this is the most serious challenge they've had to test that theory and their candidate found votes from elsewhere to compensate.