I think Labour has got its act together. The Corbyn years were a mess. Now though, Labour has some real talent on the front bench, including Ms Rayner I would add. It also has good MPs on the backbenches. Faced with a Tory Party desperately following the Daily Mail's lead and likely to promote a Z-list Thatcher tribute act to be leader, it's time for all true left-wing people to gather behind Keir Starmer. Sometimes Recid, I wonder whether you want a left of centre Government. Labour is the only option.
I work and get on really well with quite a few people close to Labour including one who works in LOTO's office (their term, not mine).
It's one of the reasons I was invited to meet with Lisa Nandy last week in Darlington.
Labour are currently, to the frustration of many inside Labour, deliberately operating in a policy vacuum for a number of reasons.
Firstly, why draw attention to yourself when the opposition are shooting themselves in the foot.
And, without any policies they aren't under scrutiny and therefore can pretty much say what they want.
And, the moment the policies are written, the internal fights begin.
All of this kind of makes sense at the moment; but I think I'd have probably tried to be more ambitious if I was in charge. Articulate why you're the better option by what you'll do; not by what you won't do
I think once the Tory leadership is settled in September, I think they will look at the next couple of years as an election campaign as they want to stay in power (and they are good at it). It's why I disagreed with LN over the phrase "Levelling Up is over" - it's not. The leadership campaign is about the members, after that is about staying in power, and they need the 'left behind' places to do that.
Labour won't be able to have no policies for much longer, it's at that point, the potential for factions and fractures will start again; which supports your point about swinging behind Starmer; but he kicked Corbyn out of the party, has hardly been supportive of the trades unions and is as dull as dish water - I'm not convinced he will be able to get the left to unite behind him - but we will see.