Labour's Tristram Hunt quitting as MP to head V&A Museum

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Anti-Corbyn feeling seems to be the exact problem

The boundaries changed before the 2010 election; Reed held the seat twice - 2010 and 2015. But here's Labour's problem:

However the party now faces a hat-trick of difficulties: Copeland backed Brexit, unlike Labour; many voters are employed by in nuclear industry, which Mr Corbyn has previously criticised; and the party is suffering a nationwide slump in support.

Canvass returns taken in recent weeks show that support for Labour has dropped 35 per cent in Copeland when compared with the 2015 election result, this newspaper has learned.
...
"Jeremy's incompetence is constantly coming up on the doorstep. Nobody sees him as a party leader,” said a Labour source.

Mr Corbyn suffered a setback this week when his favoured candidate, Rachel Holliday, was not selected to challenge for the seat.

Instead Gillian Troughton, a local councillor, was chosen. Mr Corbyn later praised her “strong track record of getting things done” in a message released by the party.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/20/exclusive-labour-set-lose-copeland-by-election-partys-canvass/

As we saw in the Huff Post article above, the Tories are targeting Corbyn's nuclear stance:



I wasn't aware anyone was painting Reed as a 'victim'. But he seems a lot more popular in Copeland than Corbyn.