Duncan Barkes

F THE Conservative Party wants to do the country a favour, it should sit out the looming by-election in Gorton and Denton.

- Guest columnist

As the political scrap for this Greater Manchester seat hots up, the stakes are high for Labour, Reform UK and the Greens. But not for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who should be benevolent and give Reform a clear run to victory to stop those parties whose policies are damaging to the UK.In any other world, Labour would storm this by-election, but our current political landscape is volatile and unpredictable. Plus, as history has shown us over the decades, voters can behave strangely in by-elections, often using them to vote tactically, to send a disgruntled message to the governing party or to give another party a bit of a boost.

Take veteran Westminster disruptor George Galloway, for example. Over the decades he has scored political hits in by-elections in Rochdale and Bradford West only to lose those same seats at the next general election. George will no doubt find it hard to resist throwing his hat into the ring for this latest bunfight.

This by-election is Sir Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare. He has already suffered further political damage in his party by blocking Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, from standing for Labour.