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Writing in The Telegraph, Tom Harwood pointed out the new Labour leader was still trailing behind the Tories in recent opinion polls – despite Boris Johnson’s plunging approval rating. He said: “The party he leads has not once managed to inch ahead of the Tories in opinion polls.
“This does not bode well for him, given the unprecedented events of recent months and series of arguably poor judgement calls from the Government.”
He stressed Labour’s gains appeared to be “at the expense of post-election Tory support, and more minor parties like the Lib Dems”.
He added: “Whilst this number gazing is undoubtedly interesting, political commentary can often focus too much on polling.”
The political commentator did however acknowledge Sir Keir’s personal popularity has “certainly grown”, admitting he was becoming more recognised with the “Remain supporting side of the electorate”.
But he claimed Sir Keir had been “repeatedly thrown by unscripted changes” during parliamentary debates.
He added: “In both April and May across the dispatch box he asked his sparring partner questions that had already been answered in the exchange.
“Either he wasn’t listening, or the Keirbot can is prone to getting stuck.”
Mr Harwood also claimed Sir Keir constantly “sits on the fence” when it comes to making the parties policies clear.
Highlighting one example, the commentator said in the early days of the Coronavirus crisis, Sir Keir’s Labour Party echoed the Government’s line of ‘listen to the scientists’.
But Sir Keir then blamed Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the way Wales and England had diverged in the easing of the lockdown and criticized his approach.
Mr Harwood added: “This fence sitting is severely hampering Labour’s ability to land any serious blows on the Government.
“Had he taken clearer positions, Keir could well have by now been in the lead.”
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He also claims that Labour “continually fails” to come up with an answer over the question of schools reopening.
The political commentator concluded: “While it is still early days, it is becoming clear that against one of the most favourable backdrops for any opposition leader, the architect of Labour’s failed second EU referendum bid has not delivered the renaissance many believed he would herald.”
A recent poll undertaken by YouGov however shows that public confidence in Boris Johnson plummeted, but still leading three points ahead of Labour.
The poll shows that 43 per cent of Britons think the Prime Minister is doing a good job, with 50 per cent saying he is performing poorly.
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