That Starmer fella...

"Labour does not endear itself to voters by treating the ballot paper as an exam and tutting when people give the wrong answer. A strategy based on telling voters to look again, look harder, because they missed the point last time is doomed..."

Change "Labour" to "Remain" and I think you've probably got the reason why it's going to take Labour a long long time to convince people in traditional Labour seats that Labour will deliver for them where Johnson won't.

Yeah I don't disagree with you on that. I try to be as fair as possible - I understand why he's trying to calm the culture war stuff, and I understand why he's not cutting through given the restrictions on party conferences / rallies, and I also understand the profoundly damaged state in which he inherited the party. These are all the reasons I try to give him the benefit of the doubt.

However I do agree with his critics that at some point he is going to need to pick a side and argue for it passionately. And there's no good choice, either he alienates the red wall or he alienates the cities. I don't think it's possible to weave a single path between the two. It's the same choice Corbyn faced and I don't want Starmer to wait too long the way Corbyn did.

Massively disagree with this. The people of London and the the people of the Hartlepool* have the same basic needs, wants, feelings, frustrations, etc..

An effective leader will find the thread that unites them, not that which divides them.

*other towns are available

I think that's true at a local level (which is why I think Labour won't do too badly at the locals) but in terms of the big picture stories we tell ourselves about who we are and our place in the world, I genuinely can't see a thread which will unite a socially conservative home-owning rural aging population with a socially liberal renting young population. Their interests seem - to me - to be to be diametrically opposed.

There is no need to unite the nation, no political party can even unite itself. The sole aim is to appeal to enough of the electorate to get voted in.

If you were thinking of checking Britain Elects Twitter to see how the council results are going for Labour, let me save you the bother:

Con GAIN from Lab.

I'm sure the "we're still recovering from Corbyn, 2019 was our worst result" narrative will continue - I just heard it again on R4 - but I would hope that behind the scenes at least they have a plan to address the trust they've lost over Brexit.

Ouch. The PLP meetings might be awkward.

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Worst thing the people of Hartlepool have done since they hanged that monkey.

16 point swing to the Tories. Absolute fucking trouncing.

Perhaps selecting a big remainy remainer as the candidate for a brexity town wasn't such a cosmic brain genius idea after all?

70% voted to Leave in Hartlepool. Fuck. Me.

They sure do like the taste of boot leather

Shit candidate, shit campaign, and a leadership which has been as good as useless for the last year. This is of course combined with the very real disintegration of Labour's 'traditional' base and other structural factors. However, just watch as the leadership try to find a way to pin this on Corbyn, who held the seat in 2019 and 2017 (in the latter on a greatly increased majority). Will this massive defeat convince them to change strategy? I won't hold my breath.

Meanwhile signs of a landslide victory for Andy Burnham—a politician whose remit is very different admittedly, but who has spent the last year or so demonstrating substantial opposition to the Tories.

I’ve come to the conclusion that England is fucked and the best option is to leave.

Right on cue:

GE by the end of the year?

pasokification intensifies

Wonder who their labour source is, could be absolutely anyone, it’s so vague.

Labour's shadow local government secretary Steve Reed - quoted on the Beeb just now saying almost exactly that

I suspect we will be hearing it a lot over the next few days then.

‘23 I reckon.

The mans awful, but this is interesting: https://twitter.com/GavinBarwell/status/1390549774986788864

I’ll wait and see what the change is before deciding on my membership renewal or not.

Good night for the Greens!

On my most recent rides it’s been noticeable how many green signs there have been!

Good to see the divides in Labour still haven’t realised they need to work together

Basically the whole block of Reform/Brexit party voters moved to the Tories, makes it hard for Labour in a pro Brexit post Brexit world

I think Barwells observation that we as an electorate seem to now be prioritizing culture war over well-being is both obvious but interesting, given where it’s coming from. I don’t mind if I’m hungry, if they are starving.