It could mean the end of the party as a national political force. Why? Because the party I represented as an MP and as a Minister seems to have turned its back on England and Englishness. It doesn't seem to care about England as an entity, as something distinct from Britain as a whole. Certainly, ordinary voters outside the big metropolitan areas don't feel Labour shares its pride in being English. That cost Labour and Sir Keir Starmer so dear in Hartlepool because it is such an English town. Ordinary voters outside the big metropolitan areas don't feel Labour shares its pride in being English. That cost Labour and Sir Keir Starmer so dear in Hartlepool because it is such an English town, writes former Labour cabinet minister John Denham