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Along with splitting his party and his family Boris Johnson has notched up another achievement this week.



I have not seen Labour MPs so united for months. In the last couple of years you felt more like a therapist than a journalist when talking to Labour folk such has been the despair in their ranks.



Now Johnson has given them reasons to be cheerfu l.



Firstly, all sides of the party have found common cause in wishing to block a no-deal Brexit.



This applies to MPs in leave voting seats as well as those in remain ones.



The feedback they are getting on the doorstep is their constituents may want Brexit over and done with but not necessarily at any price.

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)





Secondly, they are finding the middle class voters who were flirting with the Lib Dems or Greens are now coming back to the party or showing signs they will vote tactically for Labour if that candidate is best placed to keep the Tories out.



This obviously works both ways and you could see the Labour vote fall in Lib Dem-Conservative marginals as it switches to the party most likely to stop Brexit or defeat the Tories.



Thirdly, the personalities of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg are such that they motivate Labour supporters far more than when the Tories were led by Theresa May.



May had many failings but her dutiful approach to the job meant she was never a hate figure.



To many she engendered sympathy more than loathing.



One Labour MP told me that Rees-Mogg’s lounging in Commons , the ousting of Winston Churchill’s grandson from the party and Jo Johnson’s fratricide were all the sort of stories that cut through to voters.

Fourthly, Labour has been buoyed by figures showing 1.7 million under-35s registered to vote in the last six months.

(Image: Danny Lawson)





Recent polling showed only 16% of 18-24 year-olds would vote Conservative while 60% would vote Labour.



That is a lot of potential votes to be gained.



Finally, it should not be taken for granted that Labour leave voters will automatically switch to a party that promises to deliver Brexit.



While Labour could struggle to hold seats such as Ashfield, Dudley North and Newcastle-under-Lyme it would be unwise of the Tories to conclude there is a straight read across between how people voted in the referendum and how they will vote in an election.



Brexit will be a factor but voters will also weigh up the leadership qualities of the prospective Prime Ministers, local concerns and the state of their local services when they enter the ballot box.

Nobody is pretending this is going to be an easy election for Labour.



You could easily write a series of alternative scenarios that sees the party struggle to hold more than 200 seats.



Corbyn is clearly an issue with some voters, Labour is behind in the polls, struggling in Scotland and parts of the Midlands and its stance on Brexit will matter if the Tories succeed in turning the election into a re-run of the 2016 referendum.



Boris Johnson, despite his shambolic speech yesterday , is a natural campaigner compared with Mrs May.



The Conservatives would be unwise to be over confident about winning the forthcoming election but equally Labour should not be too downbeat.



Today's agenda:



8am - Boris Johnson is on a visit to Scotland.



10am - Jeremy Corbyn holds telephone call with other opposition party leaders to discuss election tactics.



10am - House of Lords begins session on the remaining stages of the Benn Bill blocking a no-deal Brexit.



5pm - The Benn Bill is expected to clear the House of Lords.



The House of Commons is not sitting.



What I am reading:



Lovely piece by Ros Wynne-Jones on what happened when the TUC’s Frances O’Grady met a Brexiteer