In the lull between major national elections, by-elections arouse intense media interest and thus give the ordinary person an excuse to talk politics. Such intermittent elections can serve as indicators of the changing political landscape if not direct appraisals of the sitting government’s popularity. In Britain, several by-elections are to be scheduled this month and the most significant is in Wakefield, which will be as much a signal of Boris Johnson’s fluctuating appeal as it will be a measure of the efficacy of the Labour Party, the political opposition headed by Keir Starmer. Anything but a Labour victory would cast serious doubts over Starmer’s leadership.
