Keir Starmer hit by ‘exodus’ of Labour members led by Jeremy Corbyn supporters
Fall in party membership figures comes despite the new leader outperforming Boris Johnson in national polls

Labour Party membership numbers have fallen by around 250 a day since Keir Starmer’s election as leader in April, newly published figures show.
Supporters of former leader Jeremy Corbyn are “leading an exodus from the party”, with the number of members falling by just under 57,000 people, or 10%, in the past seven months, The Times reports.
Membership numbers are now under 500,000 for the first time since Corbyn’s election, in 2016 - and the drop is “believed to have hastened in recent weeks” in the wake of the ex-leader’s suspension, the paper adds. Corbyn was reinstated last week after being booted out at the end of October following the publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission report into anti-Semitism within the party.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
According to figures published by Labour, the party had 552,835 members eligible to vote in its leadership election in April. That figure dropped to 495,961 in the National Executive Committee (NEC) elections two weeks ago.
Allies of Corbyn, including his former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, have urged supporters to retain their membership. But as a figure on the left of the party told The Times, the drop “shows the level of discontent with Keir and the scale of the left-wing membership”.
The decision to suspend Corbyn “sparked backlash from party members, dozens of whom took to social media to announce they were quitting”, says the Daily Express, which adds that the sudden fall in membership is a “humiliation” for Starmer.
However, while Corbyn supporters are abandoning Starmer, the country as a whole appears to be impressed with the “new management” of Labour. A recent Statista poll of more than 1,600 people had Starmer leading Boris Johnson by ten points when respondents were asked who would make the better prime minister.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.
Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 4, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - deportation, Canadian politeness, and more
-
5 low approval cartoons about poll numbers
Cartoons Artists take on fake pollsters, shared disapproval, and more
-
Deepfakes and impostors: the brave new world of AI jobseeking
In The Spotlight More than 80% of large companies use AI in their hiring process, but increasingly job candidates are getting in on the act
-
Ed Miliband, Tony Blair and the climate 'credibility gap'
Talking Point Comments by former PM Tony Blair have opened up Labour to attacks over its energy policies
-
Is the UK's two-party system finally over?
Today's Big Question 'Unprecedented fragmentation puts voters on a collision course with the electoral system'
-
Will divisions over trans issue derail Keir Starmer's government?
Today's Big Question Rebellion is brewing following the Supreme Court's ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex under equality law
-
Labour and the so-called 'banter ban'
Talking Point Critics are claiming that a clause in the new Employment Rights Bill will spell the end of free-flowing pub conversation
-
UK-US trade deal: can Keir Starmer trust Donald Trump?
Today's Big Question White House insiders say an agreement is 'two weeks' away but can Britain believe it?
-
Did China sabotage British Steel?
Today's Big Question Emergency situation at Scunthorpe blast furnaces could be due to 'neglect', but caution needed, says business secretary
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
-
Jewish communities are wary of Trump's push to punish antisemitism
IN THE SPOTLIGHT While the White House expands its effort to criminalize actions it deems harmful to Jewish Americans, not everyone in those communities are on board with the president's purported assistance.