This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

Spare a thought for Keir Starmer who as Prime Minister seems determined to tough it out while knowing that the outcome of next month’s Makerfield by-election is likely to define how much longer he has in Downing Street.  

Should Andy Burnham, the Labour candidate and sitting Mayor of Greater Manchester, emerge victorious from this extraordinary contest in the North West of England a direct challenge to Starmer’s leadership would soon follow.  

That is quite something less than two years on from a general election won handsomely by Starmer. Labour in its long and colourful history has seen many moments of drama involving leaders but nothing quite like this. Only twice has it rid itself of sitting Prime Ministers - Ramsay MacDonald was expelled as a traitor to the cause in 1931 and Tony Blair was managed out of office after a decade in 2007.  

On one level what is unfolding now is bizarre. It’s not as though the Westminster government has been failing to do Labour things under Starmer; there has been a significant boost to workers’ rights, the ongoing nationalisation of the railways and hundreds of thousands of children being lifted out of poverty. That is not all – NHS waiting lists are falling, recent........

© Herald Scotland