What will happen if Labour loses the Batley and Spen by-election?
Starmer Out is the blunt message on the posters of the George Galloway campaign in the Batley and Spen by-election, which will be held on Thursday. He may succeed, if only because his intervention on behalf of his Workers Party may split the Labour vote in a seat with a large Muslim community, and one where Labour has been losing ground to the Conservatives and other populist parties on the right. Should that happen, and the Tories take the constituency (which has been in Labour hands since 1997), the Corbynite left or others may mount a challenge; there are rumours of manoeuvres by Angela Rayner and Lisa Nandy, both northern MPs, and by Dawn Butler, one of the front bench casualties when Keir Starmer took over from Jeremy Corbyn. They need about 40 MPs to back such a disruptive move, though, with probably little chance of beating Starmer in any case. But thered be trouble, following the loss of Hartlepool, some disappointing performances in Scotland and the north and Midlands at the May elections, a 10-point Tory poll lead, a lost deposit at the Chesham by-election and general grumbles about the Labour leaders managerial style.