A lesson and a wake-up call from Rochdale: Labour has become too complacent about its big poll lead | Martin Kettle

There is no disputing that this episode has been damaging. Hopefully it will prompt Keir Starmer into an overdue rethink

More than four months into the Israel-Hamas war, and after the Labour party’s Rochdale byelection candidate shambles, it can come as something of a surprise to be reminded that most domestic opinion in Britain is emphatically not polarised between uncompromisingly pro-Israel and uncompromisingly pro-Hamas positions.

On the contrary, the majority of the public do not have a “side”, which they support at the expense of the other. While many media and political arguments continue to rage at white heat, the views of most people about where responsibility lies in the Middle East conflict, and how to end it, remain more shaded, variegated and morally careful. The majority are also deeply troubled about the war itself and by the damage it is causing to community relations here.

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