Starmer is facing a cocktail of dissent that is growing ever more potent

After the Greens’ win in Gorton, the prime minister needed to come out swinging. Instead, he sent a letter But for the Iran crisis, Labour’s first major policy announcement since the party’s calamitous defeat in the Gorton and Denton byelection would have been arguably the biggest political story of the week. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, pressed ahead with what is intended to be the party’s full-throated answer to the competition it faces from Reform UK as she declared an end to perma...

By Ben Quinn Political correspondent