Paddy O’Connell

That's an interesting theme.

But nowhere did I find anyone who said, I'm going to speak up for Keir Starmer.

He was given a hospital pass by becoming prime minister and he's done an amazing job.

And it is rare to find.

I mean, it just genuinely is rare to find.

We've lost count of the number of Labour politicians who've said that both on the airwaves and also saying privately in the last few days that it just comes up all the time.

And it may be fair, it may not be fair.

And that's a question that everybody will be able to answer in their own minds.

But Keir Starmer personally...

So people have used these local elections, which are about homelessness, my bins, my health service, my education of my children.

They've used this as a national poll.

It's not really fair on councillors who are doing their job, is it?

Well, no, I mean, these elections are about lots of different things and they're about people who make decisions that influence our lives that have got almost nothing to do with number 10, you know, in terms of your bins and local services.

But, you know, like it or not, that's what this became in large part.

Not least, and it will have been helped in this by the fact that Reform, who ran a campaign very hard, Nigel Farage went to...

so many different places around the country.

I mean, he basically went back on the road to do that sort of celebrity tour that he does every now and again.

That's what he's been doing for the last few weeks.

And the reform slogan was, vote reform, get Starmer out.

And there was a reason for that.