Voters didn’t know what Starmer stood for, says Labour’s Hartlepool candidate

Voters at the Hartlepool by-election didn't know what Keir Starmer stood for, the party's candidate in the seat has said.

Paul Williams, who was handpicked for the role by the Labour leader's office, said "few people knew much about" Sir Keir.

His comments come after a chaotic weekend shadow cabinet reshuffle, and briefing in which the leader's allies appeared to point the finger at his deputy Angela Rayner for the loss.

Writing on the Times Red Box website Mr Williams, an ex-MP who lost his old seat at the 2019 election, said the leader "attracted little negativity on the doorstep but few people knew much about him or what he stood for".

He also claimed Labour “didn’t lose the Hartlepool by-election during this campaign, or during this year of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership" despite the party holding the seat twice in 2017 and 2019.

"People told me they had lost confidence in 'brand Labour' years ago," he wrote.

The results of the by-election largely overshadowed Labour successes elsewhere including in the Welsh Parliament where the party gained seats, and in London and Manchester where Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham consolidated their mayoralties.

But the results of the Hartlepool contest raised concerns that the party is going backwards under Sir Keir, in contrast with the leader's line that he is making progress but that voters are not yet convinced.

The handling of the fall-out from the defeat – a rare by-election gain for a government from the opposition – has sparked consternation among Labour MPs, with shadow ministers threatening to quit if they were moved or demoted limiting the scope of the eventual reshuffle.

Early briefing that Lisa Nandy would be dropped from shadow foreign secretary turned out not to materialise – Sir Keir demoted shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds, a totemic figure for the party's soft left.

Yet he was forced after 24 hours of negotiations to give deputy leader Ms Rayner a new wide-ranging portfolio after ditching her as campaign chief. Figures from the party's right such as Rachel Reeves and Wes Streeting were also brought in.

Speaking on Monday veteran left-wing MP Diane Abbott said there was a "problem with strategy" as she urged party leader Sir Keir to abandon the rightward drift and return to policies he had pledged during the leadership election such as scrapping universal credit.

"What we want is a strategy for winning from this leadership, because it's clear from what happened over the weekend, particularly what happened in Hartlepool, there's a problem with the strategy," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It does seem as if, certainly the people around [Sir Keir], don't understand how the party works," the former shadow home secretary told the broadcaster.

"They tried to sack Angela Rayner in order to make her carry the can for the poor results at the weekend.

"They didn't seem to realise that because she's an elected deputy leader, you can fiddle around with her title, but you can't sack her, she remains a senior person in the shadow cabinet."

When asked if it was the view of deputy leader Ms Rayner that Sir Keir wanted to sack her, Ms Abbott said: "Yes, that's what all the briefing was about.

"It was a foolish thing to even think about and he has had to walk it back - you can't sack an elected deputy leader."

"I would like to see Keir Starmer return to the ten policy pledges that he promised when he ran for the leadership, including abolishing universal credit, putting up taxes on the top 5 per cent.”

She added that this would “unify the party”.