Labour's Support Is Broad But Shallow

The UK general election has kicked off with an unresolved paradox in Labour’s position: It enjoys huge poll leads over the Tories, but leader Keir Starmer has tepid personal ratings and the party seems vulnerable in seats it would normally expect to win — Rochdale, taken by left-wing populist George Galloway in a by-election this year; Bristol Central, under threat from the Greens; and Islington North, where Labour’s left-wing former leader Jeremy Corbyn is running as an independent against the party that kicked him out.

Starmer’s achievement in turning Labour into a party heading for a potential landslide majority five years after its disastrous 2019 defeat should not be taken for granted. Whatever help he has had from an imploding Conservative Party, it’s a turnaround few, if any, truly saw coming.