After Gorton and Denton, where next? The scale of the Green triumph in Manchester has sent shockwaves through Sir Keir Starmer’s party. Much has been written about looming losses in Cardiff and Edinburgh. But the Greens – with their appeal to urban professionals, young Muslims and the economically disaffected – pose a threat in the place that many took to be Labour’s strongest heartland: London.

“We have almost as many MPs there as Scotland and Wales combined,” notes one aide. “Some are getting a bit nervy.” Jitters are understandable. For ten years, Labour has ridden a wave of post-Brexit cosmopolitan feeling to boast ever-greater gains and now has 58 MPs in Greater London. At London’s last local elections, Labour won 62 percent of council seats. In May, between Gaza and its record in government, the party faces what one MP calls “a trailer for the horror show that could be 2029” as its vote fragments. Polls suggest London Labour will lose half its 1,100 councilors.

The Greens are among the chief beneficiaries. Their support is drawn from a crescent in the inner east of the capital: Lewisham, Hackney, Islington. Activists suggest that in these local races the first easy win is simply saying, “We’re not Labour.” “Morgan McSweeney’s lot called it ‘shaking off the fleas’,” says one new Green recruit, describing the perceived strategy of Starmer’s recently departed chief of staff for getting rid of the left. “They’re in for a........

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