Labour is retreating into its Leftist comfort zone Starmer’s denunciation of Israel illustrates quite how much of a mess the party and its allies are now in 11 May 2021 • 9:20pm After annihilation in Hartlepool and a battering at the local elections, the Labour Party faces existential questions. Through some unlikely miracle it must find a policy offering that bridges the chasm between towns and cities, between the rooted “somewheres” and the free-wheeling “anywheres”. It must devise a message that both remaining supporters and disaffected voters in former strongholds can unite behind, even though the interests of these groups are often diametrically opposed. It must confront the alarming possibility that things could only get worse.