Green grief for Starmer: by-election special

The Gorton and Denton by-election was supposedly a three-horse race, but on polling day the Green Party stormed to victory by a vast margin. It was a devastating defeat for Labour, which was pushed into third place behind Reform UK. Sir Keir Starmer now faces intense pressure, while his party must battle a threat from the left as well as the right. Does this historic result – the first ever by-election triumph for the Greens – signal the end of the two-party system? And where does it leave Reform? Host Lucy Fisher is joined by FT political correspondent Anna Gross, northern England correspondent Jennifer Williams, and political editor George Parker. Follow: Lucy @LOS_Fisher and @ lucyfisher.ft.com ; George @georgewparker; Jennifer @JenWilliams_FT; Anna @AnnaSophieGross Sign up here for Stephen Bush’s morning newsletter Inside Politics for straight-talking insights into the stories that matter, plus puns and tongue (mostly) in cheek views. Get 30 days free. Political Fix is presented by Lucy Fisher. This episode was produced by Fiona Symon and Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. The FT’s head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. Our email address is politicalfix@ft.com Clip from BBC Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Green grief for Starmer: by-election special is an episode from FT Politics by Financial Times.

This episode is 31:57 long.

This episode was published on Feb 27, 2026.

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