Just re-read a report from 2010 focus groups with lost Labour voters. @Keir_Starmer is about to inherit a party with all the same brand weakness Labour had then, plus a whole load of additional ones. 10 years going backwards.

We spoke to two groups:
Lost Labour - C2D voters who had left Labour for the first time in 2010
Blair Switchers - voted Labour 1st time in 1997, Tory in 2010

"Being labeled as ‘left’ is no benefit for Lost Labour voters and a turn-off for Blair switchers. Lost Labour voters want a party that tackles immigration and goes back to its traditional focus on working people. They don’t talk in the language of left/right..."

"There is a back of the head fear that Labour does not like to support people who succeed and does like supporting the irresponsible. This is particularly acute for Blair Switchers, but also there for Lost Labour (for them, the point about irresponsibility is key)"

"The ideal candidate is strong, honest, approachable, in touch with ordinary life and proud to be British/English"

"They want to know where money will come from"

Context was different even before COVID19. Government claims to be new, but it has a record. They're not making a spending a dividing line. Back to two party dynamic. And then there is the current crisis, and a new leader. The party can be turned around by the next election.

But, the leader has to make a fundamental choice between prioritising the stakeholders who are in and out of LOTO everyday (some work there) and the voters who rarely get to speak but whose voice decides the government.

Those stakeholders aren't all on the left. The FBPE crowd often isnt, neither are the people whose main goal seems to be to persuade voters that they were brilliant way back when they were in government.

And sometimes those stakeholders are advocating the right course of action, whether for sound reasons or not.

It will take incredible clarity and discipline to plough the right course. The leader needs to run the party rather than let the party run the leader.

And if it's not working, they need to hand over to someone who can do the job.

So... good luck with that.