A few obvious answers are available to the question in the headline but we’ll get to them soon enough. First, the evidence:

The Labour Party’s prospects in next months local elections are plummeting to new lows every time there is a poll, it seems.

YouGov’s last three show a distinct downward trajectory, from this on April 8…

… to this, eight days later:

https://twitter.com/EnglishElects/status/1383032112748634118

So according to this pollster, Labour is now trailing the Conservatives by 14 points, at a time when the Tories can’t do anything right and should be fearing the public’s backlash over Brexit, Covid-19, corruption and the possible end of the United Kingdom.

And, of course, Starmer’s supporters should be reminded that they said anybody but Jeremy Corbyn would give Labour a 20-point lead, automatically.

Meanwhile, though, another YouGov survey has claimed that Labour Party members are satisfied with Starmer’s performance and think he’s doing a great job.

How can this be?

Two answers present themselves:

Firstly, that the purge that Starmer launched after he became party leader last year has been successful and members who belonged to the left wing of the party – socialists who conform to the ideals that led to its original formation – have largely been removed, leaving a right-wing rump that agrees with Starmer’s wishy-washy, Tory-supporting, any-way-the-wind-blows populism.

Or alternatively that – as a result of the purge – anybody left within Labour is living in fear of being purged if they are found to have said anything even remotely critical of the party leadership.

There’s a word for an organisation that instils that kind of fear in the people. I’m sure you know the one I mean. It would explain why Starmer has been so supportive of Boris Johnson’s thugs.

Of course, there are still nearly three weeks until the elections – and a week in politics is still a long time.

There’s plenty of time for Labour to fare much worse than even the current polls are suggesting.

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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