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We've made up 20 points in less than a year
You keep mentioning that figure every few days. But why is Labour's vote share at the last election even relevant? Surely that is not the benchmark that Starmer wishes to be judged by. It certainly isn't the benchmark which others will judge him by!
Comparing him to Corbyn on approval figures is hardly relevant either. We all know that:
- Corbyn was a marmite figure - people either loved him or hated him with relatively little in the middle, and being hated a bit less by people who are not going to vote for you is not worth anything electorally
- After the 2017 election the press did a monstering job on Corbyn and succeeded in trashing his personal brand in the eyes of the electorate.
Given we want to win an election, not lose one, surely the relevant comparison to make is not with Corbyn but with Blair.
- Corbyn was a marmite figure - people either loved him or hated him with relatively little in the middle, and being hated a bit less by people who are not going to vote for you is not worth anything electorally
frank9755-
You keep mentioning that figure every few days. But why is Labour's vote share at the last election even relevant?
When Corbyn loyalists are saying that Starmer is doing a bad job, it's absolutely relevant to mention how much better Starmer is doing by every available metric (not vote share, btw, Starmer doesn't have a metric on that yet) than the guy they'd prefer to run the party. It's also a counter to people using that tired old 'any decent party would be 20 points ahead' meme; we ARE 20 points ahead compared to where we started. Any time someone says 'Kieth should be 20 points ahead lol' I will point this out.
Given we want to win an election, not lose one, surely the relevant comparison to make is not with Corbyn but with Blair.
I think that's partially reasonable - but it's more often used as a rhetorical device to set Starmer up to fail. Blair is the only Labour leader in the last 45 years to have won one election, let alone three of them. Every other leader is doing badly vs Blair.
As far as I'm concerned Starmer is doing OK. No better, no worse. I think this speech today is overdue, but I understand why he's been reticent to put it out there. I also think he deserves a fair crack of the whip, and many Corbyn loyalists aren't prepared to give him that.
ReekBlefs
I only think Starmer is doing OK, but his approval rating, even now at his worst, is better than Corbyn at his best. Corbyn never made it into net positive.
We've made up 20 points in less than a year. That's not nothing.