DESPERATE Sir Keir Starmer is expected to clear out duds from his Shadow Cabinet amid predictions of a bloodbath in yesterday’s polls.
Labour were braced for a hat-trick of defeats in crunch elections in Hartlepool, Tees Valley and the West Midlands.
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If all three fall, then Sir Keir will face overwhelming pressure to “reset” his team and show he can win back old Red Wall voters.
Grim-faced Labour MPs even warned the party could be wiped out altogether unless Sir Keir works out how to woo back workers in their old heartlands.
One told Trending In The News: “It’s time to get real.
“There’s no God-given right for the Labour Party to exist.”
Among those expected to face the axe is Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds after she failed to land a blow on Rishi Sunak at the despatch box.
As millions of Brits went to the polls yesterday, the latest YouGov poll put the Tories a whopping ten points ahead of Labour.
The stonking vaccine roll-out and big ticket announcements like the new Freeport at Teesside has sent Tory popularity soaring across former Labour strongholds.
Insiders reckon a thrashing would see the hard-left circling. One said: “You do not need a crystal ball to see there are people ready and waiting to send their ‘sack Keir’ hashtags.”
Lefties Richard Burgon or Zarah Sultana are tipped as possible leadership challengers.
But moderates are terrified at the prospect of Corbynistas seizing control again, and are gearing up to rally round their leader.
Hartlepool will be the first of the big three to declare, with results expected early this morning.
If Labour are defeated then they would have lost one of the final bricks in their once impenetrable Red Wall.
Yesterday Boris Johnson and fiancée Carrie Symonds walked arm-in-arm to vote in London Mayoral race.
Boris, who ran City Hall before he become Prime Minister voted for Shaun Bailey but the Tory is expected to lose heavily to Labour’s Sadiq Khan.
