‘I used to be there for Labour’s seismic defeat in Gorton & Denton – it jogged my memory of 1 factor’
It was around 1am that the mood started to shift at the count for the Gorton and Denton by-election, as Labour sources started to concede they had underestimate Green support
Keir Starmer suffered a nightmare defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Winning in a by-election is always a challenge for an incumbent government.
Add to that questions about Keir Starmer’s leadership, a series of scandals and more than a dozen U-turns, then it becomes very difficult indeed.
It was around 1am that the mood started to shift at the count for the Gorton and Denton by-election.
As electoral officers counted the ballot papers, Labour sources began saying Green Party supporters had turned out in a way they hadn’t expected.
They insisted it was “by-election fever” and there was no way Zack Polanski’s party could replicate this on a national scale.
READ MORE: Keir Starmer suffers nightmare defeat in Gorton and Denton by-electionREAD MORE: Gorton and Denton by-election: Live result as Greens SHOCK Labour and Reform with victory
At 2:30am, the damage control machine kicked into gear. Labour’s Deputy leader Lucy Powell, who had been at the count throughout the night, appeared on camera flanked by Labour activists wearing red rosettes in a stoic background of solidarity.
Ms Powell admitted the Greens had won the argument, appearing to concede Labour had lost. She spoke about Labour’s candidate in the past tense, saying she “wanted Angeliki Stogia to be my colleague in parliament as I think she would have been a fantastic MP”.
She continued: “What is clear is there’s a big majority in this constituency that has not voted for Reform, and on the day the Greens have managed to win the argument that they were best placed to do that.”
Not long after, a Green source said: “We are very confident of a win.”
Ms Powell admitted people want to hear “very loudly and clearly” what Labour’s story is – and vowed to do that more in the coming weeks.
But Labour’s identity crisis is not new. I am reminded of a piece I wrote in June last year – after Labour’s U-turn on welfare cuts.
It was on a poll that found more than two-thirds of Labour members wanted the party to shift to the left amid calls for Keir Starmer to reset his Government.
Labour MPs have warned time and again that the party cannot out-Reform Reform by echoing its rhetoric on immigration and deportations.
I cannot count the number of times MPs have told me the Government must focus on the votes it risks losing to left-wing parties like the Greens, as well as on the right.
Now the nightmare has come true. Votes lost to the left and to the right – leaving Labour trailing in third place.
One MP told me recently that if Labour came third, Keir Starmer is finished. So this was no ordinary by-election and this is no ordinary by-election loss.
