Nightmare for Keir Starmer as Labour lose by-election in his own backyard

Keir Starmer has suffered a major blow after Labour lost a council ward in his own North London backyard to the Liberal Democrats. After winning by a comfortable eight points in 2022, the LibDems took West Hampstead ward on Camden Council with a 20 point swing away from Labour.

The news once again raises the prospect of Keir Starmer facing a major struggle to win his north London seat, amid fury at Labour’s record in government. The LibDems claimed their win was the result of a “Gaza backlash in [Starmer’s] own backyard”. Labour fell to just 21.2% of the vote, while the LibDems surged to 54.4%.

The Tories dropped slightly to 10.3%, while Reform beat the Greens on 7.2%.

Last month Sir Keir was warned he could lose his seat at the next election to Jeremy Corbyn’s new insurgent left-wing party, one of three cabinet ministers facing the same threat.

Anger over Gaza is set to drive support for left-wing alternatives to Labour. But other issues that have damaged Sir Keir’s standing include plans to remove benefits from some people with disabilities, which have now been abandoned in an embarrassing u-turn.

The New Statesman magazine reported one Labour insider warning: “It is not inconceivable that Keir, Wes and Shabana could all lose their seats”.

And the senior Labour figure warned the party faces a “worst-of-all-worlds scenario” at next year’s elections, as it comes under threat from both left-wing alternatives and Reform.

A “pro-Gaza” independent candidate, Andrew Feinstein, came second in Sir Keir’s constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in last year’s general election, although the Prime Minister held his seat with a comfortable majority of 11,572.

But recent disturbing images from Gaza have made the war an even bigger issue for Israel’s critics.

A particular threat to Labour will come if left-wing independent candidates, the Green Party and a new Corbyn-led party either join forces or come to an agreement which means they do not stand against each other in seats where one has a chance of winning.

Sir Keir announced on Tuesday the UK could take the step of recognising statehood in September, ahead of a major UN gathering.

Since the 2025 Local Elections in May, Labour has lost more council seats than any other party, being defeated 21 times.

By contrast Reform has gained 27 seats, the most of any party.