Starmer’s Day of Reckoning Draws Nearer After Election Rout

The strategy that brought Keir Starmer to Downing Street ran out of road this week. Its architects have left the building. The question now is what takes its place — and whether members of Parliament give the UK prime minister time to see it through.

The urgency of reinvention was underlined by Labour’s loss of a parliamentary seat to the Green Party on Thursday, in an area of Manchester where they secured a majority 19 months ago. The result left critics of Starmer’s departing chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who argued his approach of chasing after right-wing voters took Labour’s base for granted, feeling vindicated.