Labour is facing a two-fronted battle:and, whisper it, even Sir Keir's seat could be at risk

With a new leftwing party launching, the danger now is that disillusioned voters hand more to rivals from both flanks

- Andrew Rawnsley

Anyone inclined to shrug at the threat to Labour on its left flank should have a word with Jonathan Ashworth.

He was one of the most ubiquitous faces of his party's campaign at last year's election. If there was a tricky broadcast interview to get through, the media managers deployed his reliable bat to defend the sticky wicket. When they needed a jovially robust face to talk up Sir Keir Starmer to journalists after one of the leaders' TV debates, you could be sure to find Jonny sparkling in the spin room. It was felt that he could afford to concentrate his energies on the national campaign because he'd won his Leicester South seat at the 2019 election with a thumping 67% vote share and a majority in excess of 20,000. The clever young men with their spreadsheets at party HQ thought him rock solid. Except, it turned out that he was no safer than a sandcastle when the tide is rushing up the beach. His majority was blown away and with it his expectations of being in the Starmer cabinet when he lost the seat to Shockat Adam, a leftwing independent who cried "This is for Gaza" while holding aloft a Palestinian keffiyeh at the count. Mr Ashworth tells me: "By the last few days, I felt there was a juggernaut coming my way and it was too late by then to do something about it."

Thangam Debbonaire would now be culture secretary, a job to which she looked well suited, if her life had gone to plan. She knew she had a fight on her hands in Bristol Central. The Greens, the largest party on the city council, were after the seat. She fought hard, but went down to defeat by more than 10,000 votes. Getting the boot is never pleasant. It is doubly distressing to lose your seat when the night is one of triumph for your colleagues who will fulfil their dream, as you will not, of sitting in cabinet.