Labour close gap on Conservatives as Theresa May's lead over Jeremy Corbyn is cut to five points

[Denzil_DC]

4. The broadcast media have to be slightly less blatantly biased in election season,

and the infighting within Labour has been subdued for now.

That and the Tories having to commit to a (wildly badly costed) manifesto that reveals that austerity on steroids is their vision of the future, and it's not going to miss out on hitting the older demographic, coupled with May's terrible public performances on the stump and in interviews and press conferences, probably go a long way to explaining these shifts (and it is a trend, judging by a range of recent polls, as is the improvement in Corbyn's approval ratings).

On the other hand, a hump in Labour's polling performance at this stage in a campaign isn't unusual, and doesn't necessarily indicate anything about the final results. But maybe this'll be an exceptional election in exceptional times.

A major question is what impact, if any, the Manchester bombing and it aftermath will have (unlike Wells, I reckon it's too early to tell - I think we'll need to wait a week or so to see its impact).