Starmer makes surprise visit at Gorton and Denton by-election in bid to save his premiership
In a highly unusual move for a sitting prime minister, Keir Starmer campaigned in the by-election at a time of growing despair over the contest in Gorton and Denton.
Sir Keir, whose premiership is at stake in Thursday’s vote, joins Gorton and Denton candidate Angeliki Stogia in the Greater Manchester constituency.
It is almost unheard of for prime ministers to appear in by-elections if their candidate wins, unless they come in later.
But according to pollsters and betting companies, Labor is in third place behind the Greens and Reform.
But Labor Party sources said: Independent He said the Prime Minister’s surprise visit was due to the team being “confident”, adding that the reaction on the doorstep “was not as bad as expected”.
It comes as Labor criticized Nigel Farage for excusing Reform candidate Matthew Goodwin for not immediately distancing himself from Tommy Robinson after the far-right activist backed him.
Mr Farage told Independent Responding to Robinson would “only give oxygen to the story,” he told a news conference in Dover
A Labor spokesman said: “It shouldn’t be difficult for Reform to move away from the support of a far-right thug like Tommy Robinson. But Nigel Farage doesn’t have the backbone to do it.”
Sir Keir used his trip to address the Green Party’s “disgusting” drug policy and “toxic” Reform England during a campaign visit ahead of the Gorton and Denton by-elections.
Labor faces a battle to save its previously rock-solid Greater Manchester constituency in the face of a dual electoral threat from both Nigel Farage’s Reform England and Zack Polanski’s Greens.
In 2024 Labor won the seat with a majority of 13,413 and more than half the vote, but the party’s decline in popularity since Sir Keir’s move into 10th place means the party could be vulnerable.
Sir Keir warned potential Green supporters they could split the anti-Reform vote and allow the party’s candidate, UK News presenter Matt Goodwin, into Parliament.
Sir Keir said: “A vote for the Green Party in this by-election is essentially a vote for Reform.
“Last year’s by-election in Runcorn saw Labor lose by just a handful of votes, gaining a Reform Member of Parliament. We must not let this happen again.”
Sir Keir also took aim at Mr Polanski’s support for drug legalisation.
“Look at the Green Party’s drug policies: they say we should legalize heroin and crack cocaine,” he said.
“Imagine what would happen in every park and every playground in this constituency if this happens.
“As the father of a 17-and-a-half-year-old boy, I have to say that the idea that within a few months the Green Party has put forward the argument that it should be perfectly legal to sell him heroin and cocaine… I find it disgusting.”
Green Party Gorton and Denton by-election candidate Hannah Spencer has previously said she thinks “decriminalization is a conversation we need to have”.
Mr. Polanski said he wanted to “legalize, regulate and control drugs,” advocating “a public health approach by public health professionals.”
Sir Keir attended a campaign event with Labor deputy leader Lucy Powell, whom he had previously sacked from his cabinet, and the party’s by-election candidate Ms Stogia.
The decision to visit the seat where potential leadership rival Andy Burnham is prevented from standing comes after Reform’s Sarah Pochin failed to get on the campaign trail in last year’s Runcorn and Helsby by-election, which she won by six votes.
