You can feel Labour’s electoral coalition fraying in the cold, rain-soaked streets of south-east Manchester. With nine days to go now until the historic byelection in Gorton and Denton, one thing unites these otherwise diverse communities: a visceral contempt for the prime minister.
Mention Keir Starmer’s name and people laugh: not with affection but disbelief, as though it’s faintly absurd to treat him as a serious topic of conversation. “He just doesn’t stick to his word,” says a middle-aged woman walking her dog, stressing that her real feelings would be impolite to print.
