Keir Starmer slumps as Boris Johnson bounces before Hartlepool by-election

1. Tories streak ahead in HartlepoolHappy anniversary, Sir Keir: the Conservatives are set to win the Hartlepool by-election by a margin of nearly ten points, according to the first full poll of the constituency that will define Labour’s summer.

With four weeks to go, Red Box can exclusively reveal that the Tories are already polling nearly half of the vote and command a decisive lead over Labour — who are set to lose their Teesside redoubt for the first time in nearly six decades.

The scores on the doors from Survation, who polled Hartlepudlians by phone for the Communication Workers Union last week: Jill Mortimer, the Conservative candidate, is on 49 per cent; with Labour’s Dr Paul Williams on 42 per cent.

On these