Latest editorial
POLLSTERS and politicians were left with egg on their faces yesterday after Labour stormed to victory in its first electoral test under Jeremy Corbyn.
YouGov’s Peter Kellner, Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Labour rightwinger Simon Danczuk were among naysayers who predicted disaster for the party in Thursday’s Oldham West & Royton by-election.
But their prophecies of doom were blown apart by a 7 per cent swing to Labour that left Ukip trailing by over 10,000.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
Every Starmer boast about removing asylum-seekers probably wins Reform another seat while Labour loses more voters to Lib Dems, Greens and nationalists than to the far right — the disaster facing Labour is the leadership’s fault, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
While Spode quit politics after inheriting an earldom, Farage combines MP duties with selling columns, gin, and even video messages — proving reality produces more shameless characters than PG Wodehouse imagined, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
