Last Thursday’s by-election result in Batley and Spen should help quieten down the Starmer should go narrative that was building up particularly in the media. This has been a product of the extraordinarily difficult period that the LAB leader has found himself in after securing the job two weeks into the first lockdown in April last year.

Since then the politics have almost totally been about controlling COVID and we have been in an unusual political situation because everything is not operating as normal. The government has been controlling all our lives, in England at least through, emergency powers which has made the normal scrutiny by oppositions that much harder.

We’ve had no proper party conferences or other events when Starmer can make a big televised speech to his party setting out his thoughts and introducing himself more to the electorate as a whole.

The big thing that he will have on his side when we get to the next election is that he’s going to be far harder for the Tories to demonize which is their usual way of trying to frighten voters at election time. At GE2019 this was so easy with Corbyn as LOTO and much of his final months were about the accusations of antisemitism within the Labour party.

If Starmer is really that bad how come Tory PM, David Cameron, proposed him for a knighthood in 2014. This is going to make demonization that much more difficult.

I think one of Starmer’s problems is that he’s not been in national politics for long enough – he’s only been an MP since GE2015 and his lack of grounding in parliament sometimes shows but as last week’s PMQs showed he can be pretty lethal.

Mike Smithson

UPDATE: These are the markeThis market relates to whether the UK government re-introduces any legally enforceable restrictions on social contact in England related to the spread of coronavirus, following the legal end of restrictions on social contact (currently expected to take place on 19 July 2021). Examples may include, but are not limited to, the mandatory wearing of face masks on public transport or the closure of pubs/nightclubs. For the purposes of this market, restrictions will not include any regulations on international travel or any regulations related to self-isolation or quarantine. For the purposes of this market, ‘re-introduce’ does not require any restrictions to exactly replicate previous restrictions. If the UK government does not end restrictions on social contact in 2021, and thus could not ‘re-introduce’ restrictions, this market will be void. Dates in this market relate to when any restrictions come into force in England, rather than the date on which they are announced. All times and dates in this market are in UK time. Clarification (14 July 2021): This market refers to mandatory England-wide measures introduced by the UK government. Any measures that are introduced locally or by individual companies (e.g. Transport for London only) will not count towards the settlement of this market. Clarification (6 September 2021): If ‘vaccination passports’ are required for entry to nightclubs or other events, this market will be settled for yes, so long as the measure satisfies the other conditions in the market rules, i.e. that it is mandatory, implemented by the UK government, England-wide and legally enforceable. Clarification (12 October 2021): If vaccines become mandatory for people working in care homes at any point in 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaccination-of-people-working-or-deployed-in-care-homes-operational-guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-of-people-working-or-deployed-in-care-homes-operational-guidance) this market will be settled for yes, so long as the measure satisfies the other conditions in the market rules, i.e. that it is mandatory, implemented by the UK government, England-wide and legally enforceable.