Public dislike for Jeremy Corbyn played ‘significant’ role in Labour’s historic election defeat, independent post mortem finds

Public dislike for Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership played a “significant” role in Labour’s historic defeat in the 2019 general election, an independent post mortem into the campaign has found.

But the Labour Together report, drawn up by a cross-factional panel including former leader Ed Miliband, said that blame for the debacle “is not the responsibility of any one person alone”.

Labour’s campaign strategy was “inadequate”, its organisation “muddled” and its execution “poor” concluded the report, which said December’s defeat has left the party with “a mountain to climb” to regain power in 2024.

The scale of the defeat – which saw Labour shed 60 seats and lose stronghold constituencies like Redcar in the North-East and Bolsover in the Midlands – was the result of deep-rooted failings stretching back over two decades in which the party lost touch with the communities it aims to represent and “poses profound questions about the future prospects of our party”.

Setting out the scale of the challenge facing Keir Starmer, the report noted that no major party has ever increased its share of MPs by 60 per cent, as Labour would have to do to unseat Boris Johnson in four years’ time. And it made clear that making inroads into SNP dominance in Scotland is key to his chances, as without a breakthrough north of the border, Labour would have to be able to take Tory seats as safe as Jacob Rees-Mogg’s North-East Somerset to get Starmer into Downing Street.

“Labour has a mountain to climb to get back into power in the next five years,” warned the commissioners who drew up the report – who also include MP Lucy Powell, the chair of the unsuccessful 2015 election campaign, and TSSA union boss Manuel Cortes. “Unless as a party and a movement we face up to that we will not win.”

The report found that a combination of negative views of the party leadership, a confused message on Brexit and a manifesto packed with spending pledges that was not seen as credible sealed the “terrible” defeat in 2019.

Boris Johnson’s “Stop Jeremy Corbyn” message was “a major driver of the Conservatives’ success” among all swing voters groups, which Labour lost to the Tories as well as those who had not voted in the previous election.

Even among the 2017 Labour voters who stuck with the party last December, research for Labour Together found that “a large majority had negative views of Jeremy Corbyn, suggesting they voted despite, rather than because of, the leadership”.

Corbyn’s slump in popularity since 2017 “cannot easily be disentangled from the handling of issues like Brexit, party disunity and anti-Semitism”, the report found.

Labour Leave voters who switched to the Conservatives “were likely to talk about anti-Semitism, terrorism, what they saw as extreme far-left policies, or unaffordability” as factors in their decisions to defect.

The report quoted a “typical” comment from a member of this group, a 52-year-old council house tenant who switched to the Brexit party in European elections, who said she was “Frightened at the possibility of a Marxist government. Disgusted at Corbyn being a terrorist sympathiser. Most disturbed about plan to nationalise BT as I fear it would allow a Labour government to spy on internet users.”

And it made clear that a necessary step towards recovering electability will be “tough action on anti-Semitism” as well as other forms of racism, misogyny, bullying, intimidation, sexual assault, harassment and discrimination.

But the commissioners warned: “It would be a mistake to believe that a different leader, with Brexit no longer the defining issue, would in itself be sufficient to change Labour’s electoral fortunes. Our report lays bare that our defeat had deep roots. This loss is the story of more than one election – indeed it is a story that stretches back two decades.

“Unless we recognise and accept this triple challenge of the scale of our task, the failures of 2019 and the deep roots of how we got here, we will not win or deserve to win.”

The report presented a scathing analysis of the delivery of Labour’s campaign and the “toxic” culture within the party.

“It was unclear who was in charge with insufficient lines of accountability for decision making,” it said. “There was an unrealistic target seat strategy that was not evidence-based. Hard decisions on seat targeting and prioritisation were avoided. Labour was unprepared for an election, with no clear message.”

Activists on the ground were “let down” by a central machine which misallocated manpower and resources to unwinnable seats while neglecting constituencies which needed defending in Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and the North.

“Divisions and factionalism undermined our election readiness, with a lack of trust hampering teamwork at all levels of the party,” the report said. “Our membership base and areas of high activity are not in the places we needed them.”

The authors of the report insisted that it was not “a counsel of gloom and despair”, but a call for realism about the situation Labour faces and determination to improve its prospects.

And it warned that this will not be achieved by “going back to a bygone era” – likely to be taken as a coded appeal not to revert to the New Labour policies of Tony Blair.

It set out a series of recommendations for change under Starmer’s leadership, including:

- A renewed commitment to “transformational” but “credible” economic change, rooted in the daily experiences and struggles of people’s lives.

- The building of a culture of inclusion and diversity, generosity and teamwork, not factionalism and patronage.

- The creation of a well-led, professional organisation.

- A root and branch reform of party organisation and structures.

- A commitment to building a genuine popular movement.

Responding to the report, a party spokesman said: “We thank everyone who contributed to this independent report. Its attempt to understand the challenges and opportunities facing the Labour party is welcome and we will read it carefully. By harnessing our collective skills and energy we will build a party and a movement that wins again.”