Norwich MP Clive Lewis grades Keir Starmer D minus

A Labour MP has said Sir Keir Starmer “needs to up his game” as he gave his party leader a “D minus grade”.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis said Labour lacked “a vision that can be articulated and expressed on the doorstep”.

However, the Conservatives retained control of Norfolk County Council and the party’s Giles Orpen-Smellie was elected police and crime commissioner for the county.

He told BBC Politics East “we need to know that [Sir Keir] is an individual who has a game plan for taking us forward and at the moment that isn’t clear so he needs to up his game.”

“In these elections, we went in naked,” Mr Lewis added.

“I understand it’s been a tough year, but that’s not an excuse not to have a vision and some policy ideas and direction, and it simply wasn’t there.”

Nationally, Labour lost control of eight councils and was defeated by the Conservatives in the parliamentary by-election in Hartlepool, which had previously voted Labour since the constituency’s creation in 1974.

Mr Starmer then carried out a shadow cabinet reshuffle where deputy leader Angela Raynor was replaced as the party’s chairwoman by Anneliese Dodds.

Mr Lewis served in the shadow cabinet under the previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, but he is not a member of the current shadow cabinet.

When asked how he rated his national leader’s performance, Mr Lewis gave him the “D-minus” grade.

“He needs to show on political management and vision that he has a strategy to take us forward in the next two years,” he added.

The BBC has contacted the Labour Party’s national office for comment.