If a Labour prime minister leads his party into the worst set of elections possibly ever, should he be allowed to carry on? The answer is less obvious than it might appear.
For sure, a disaster is approaching this week. As the latest calculations from Professor Sir John Curtice and other psephological experts suggest, the Labour Party is likely to have one of the worst nights in its long electoral history, and no one is seriously doubting it. Whatever the eventual outcome in seats won and control in local councils, and the prospect of humiliation in the national elections in Scotland and Wales, if Labour’s share of the vote reflects its standing in the opinion polls, say 19 per cent, then this week will indeed be historic for the party. Even if the results are widely expected to be dire, there will be extreme peril for the Labour leader and the usual febrile mood that overcomes Westminster at such times. There is no shortage of speculation swirling around Sir Keir Starmer’s future at the moment, and it will reach tornado proportions of intensity by the weekend.
