Well.

There's nothing like being trapped in a good old-fashioned 'Pit of Despair.' 

Especially when you dug it yourself!

And, by George, that's where Sir Keir Starmer is finding his Labour party right now - wallowing in self-made misery with no obvious way to climb out.

Looking for reasons why life is so awful for the party swept into power in July after rousting Rishi Sunak's bumbling Tory fools from power, Starmer doesn't have to search too diligently. In fact, a mirror would do nicely as a starting point.

Starmer more unpopular after five months than any other PM in over 40 years

Sir Keir Starmer is more unpopular after five months in Downing Street than any other prime minister since the late 1970s, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted between Nov 27 and Dec 4, found that 61 per cent of voters were dissatisfied with Sir Keir’s performance while 27 per cent were satisfied. That gave him a net satisfaction score of -34.

Ipsos said it was the worst score recorded for a prime minister after five months in office in its history, dating back to Margaret Thatcher.

From taking back the winter fuel payments that have been helping Britain's elderly pensioners stave off freezing to death thanks to exorbitant utility costs in winter to their assault on farmers (right-wingers, you know)...

Woke brigade claim Barbour jackets are 'fast becoming a new overt symbol for the right' after thousands of farmers protested against Keir Starmer's tax grab in London https://t.co/9juAHol8nR pic.twitter.com/mnbEiIFjTn

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 20, 2024

...to 'Two-Tier' Keir's unrelenting war on what's left of British freedoms and native British citizens...

🚨BREAKING: British police arrest old man after his social media post caused anxiety for someone.

Britain is broken. pic.twitter.com/co3YcNBujo

— God Save Great Britain (@GSGB01) December 7, 2024

...and his unfathomable attitude toward the illegal immigrants and asylum seekers who are swamping the tiny island and forever changing its character...

Keir Starmer is heckled by onlookers as he lays flowers at the scene of the Southport knife attack.

Axel Rudakubana Killed 3 Innocent Children.

Keir Starmer Should Resign Before Destroying UK pic.twitter.com/Wk48vua7aZ

— Sumit (@SumitHansd) January 2, 2025

...I can't imagine why they're already sick of him.

Keir Starmers official PM photo. Empty, emotionless eyes, slightly constipated look, awkward pose, bad framing, focus issues, taken in a room devoid of character with a jarring colour scheme.

Captures him perfectly. pic.twitter.com/obK2XMYARW

— NoRisk_NoReward (@noreward_norisk) July 5, 2024

The mild-mannered Starmer has a mean authoritarian streak running through him that he seems to have no problem unleashing on those who are now his subjects, even though the former prosecutor promised the exact opposite to get elected. Starmer and his cohorts in Labour had all the buzzwords down - transparency, less government interference, etc.

Yet they're jack-booted thugs almost from moving into an office after being elected.

So strange how that happens when uber-progressives get that tiniest taste of real power.

Keir Starmer once promised that his government would ‘tread more lightly on our lives’. Like so many of his pledges, this one was discarded at the first opportunity. Since taking office in July, prime minister Starmer has proven himself to be almost comically authoritarian.

He has announced new restrictions on our lifestyles. Nanny-state policies clamping down on smoking and vaping, and taking junk-food ads off the TV, have become a bizarre fixation for the new government.

And after the riots last summer, Starmer – on top of calling for hate-speakers to be arrested – vowed to tighten up the rules on what people can say online, by amending the already censorious Online Safety Act.

His henchmen in Labour ride right along, tightening the screws in their fashion depending on which department they're heading. They are all birds of an authoritarian feather.

One of those proposed plans is being floated by the deputy prime minister, Angela Raynor, who has determined that a whole new system of regional government is just what the doctor ordered. She's decided what she sees as a hodge-podge of small districts and larger county councils is too unwieldy. Deputy PM Raynor wants them consolidated, with a 'mayor' for each new entity.

Naturally, the members of the councils she's determined to exterminate and consolidate are miffed.

Angela Rayner has said she wants every region of England to get a mayor, as she outlined plans for a major redesign of local government.

The deputy prime minister told the BBC giving regional mayors more powers over housing, transport, education and employment would help drive economic growth.

Under the proposals, the government also wants to merge areas where there are currently two tiers of local authority - smaller district and larger county councils - in a bid to streamline services.

But the body representing district councils has warned the plans could spark "turmoil" and argued "mega-councils" could undermine local decision-making.

So miffed, they're starting to walk away from the Labour party. The rejiggered council plans were the last straw from leadership they saw as increasingly hostile to traditional Labour "party values." 

Twenty councillors have quit Labour in protest at the party's direction under Sir Keir Starmer.

The councillors - from Broxtowe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire - claimed the party had "abandoned traditional Labour values" and criticised policies such as cutting the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners.

Council leader Milan Radulovic, who had been a party member for 42 years, is among those walking away from Labour.

A local Labour spokesperson said the decision by some councillors to sit as independent 18 months after they were elected was "incredibly disappointing".

Labour didn't waste any time negotiating with or attempting to placate unhappy councillors even before they walked. The party hierarchy went straight into punishing and banishing mode.

This kind of sounds familiar - they cancelled the councillors.

...They claimed 10 of them had been blocked from standing for Labour at upcoming local elections for Nottinghamshire County Council after questioning the winter fuel policy.

..."I cannot support and will not support another centrist government intent on destroying local democracy and dictating national policy from a high pedestal," he said.

He also criticised plans to reorganise local government, which could see district and borough councils scrapped.

"I believe the concentration of power in the hands of fewer people and the abolition of local democracy through the current proposals of super councils is nothing short of a dictatorship, where local elected members, local people, local residents will have no say over the type and level of service provided in their area," he said.

The group said 100 local grassroots members had also left Labour.

Labour representatives were "la dee da, who needs them" when asked about the defections, but observers believe the internal cracks are beginning to show. And the rebels are getting lots of airtime.

'Come and walk the streets with me!'

Leader of Labour rebel group, Milan Raduluvic, takes aim at Keir Starmer in a passionate response after numerous councillors have quit the party in protest of Keir Starmer's leadership. pic.twitter.com/HtOyOTtjhT

— GB News (@GBNEWS) January 2, 2025

Even as the prime minister makes more news, firmly painting himself as an insufferable privileged elitist...

Sir @Keir_Starmer is holidaying in Madeira. There was a 3 hour wait for a popular toboggan ride. He turned up in a limousine & his children aged 16 & 13 were immediately given seats.

Starmer was booed & called for him to "get to the back of the queue".https://t.co/7HJFeyNnr5 pic.twitter.com/LUNFUmt0P2

— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) January 1, 2025

...who is firmly out of his depth running the country but doing spectacularly running the country into the ground.

‘The country is in chaos’: Why the people of Watford have already given up on Labour

...At any rate, the mood in Watford is a little downbeat among those who have ventured outside. And it’s not just the weather casting a pall over things. There’s a sense among some that, despite the arrival of a new government last summer, neither the country nor their own lives have much improved since.

“[In] a state of chaos,” is how Labour voter Joseph Corcoran describes Britain, from inside The Moon Under Water, a Wetherspoons pub on the high street. The pub chain has its head office in Watford, which may or may not explain why this branch seems to be the only hospitality venue in Watford packed with customers on this most foul of mornings.

Corcoran, 82, is a retired postman, butcher, and publican. Although he has always voted Labour, he doesn’t seem to rate the party’s chances of turning the current situation around.

“There’s a lot there to change but it’s too much for them,” he says.

It's leaving the door open for Nigel Farage and Reform UK, now the second-largest party in the country.

I also think we will see this happen with people who have voted Labour.

It's coming.

— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) January 1, 2025

How authoritarian will the pasty-faced PM get if he's cornered?