For the fifth time since the start of 2023, Keir Starmer woke up on Friday morning to a byelection result that indicates he will be prime minister by the end of the year.
The Labour leader called the result in Blackpool South, where the party’s candidate, Chris Webb, won with a swing of 26%, “seismic” and “historic”. Polling experts point out that even Tony Blair did not secure such a sustained series of strong byelection results in the run-up to his landslide election victory in 1997.
