Interesting you say this because some fire Starmer as a Tory-lite individual.
I'm not sure what's cowardly about him, mind.
I've said this before but I'd rather have boring and effective as opposed to eccentric and ineffective.
The fact Labour have made considerable gains in several constituencies is a) because Tories are such a shit show and b) Starmer actually poses as a sensible, diplomatic, calm choice for a leader. When you consider what the Tories have to offer, he's an able alternative. The only problem is that Labour in the past have done so much damage that they lost a lot of core voters (hence the red wall breaking down in the North East).
I agreed with some of the Corbyn policies which funnily enough some Tory ministers want to bring in (4-day week was discussed last year, free broadband for vulnerable people) but he is given such bad press (which the Tories run) that people chose to believe those smears as opposed to think for themselves and see what the parties have to offer.
People point to Starmer or Labour for ruining this country. Sorry, but the Tories have 'governed' for 12 years and its not up to Labour to bring the solutions to the problems. The problem the Tories have is they create more problems not only for themselves but for the country. Point the finger at the ones in charge, not the ones that can't make any changes and that aren't in power.
Fine to say we got stuck with the shit we got, but I pray to God that come the next GE, anyone - be it on the fence, core Labour, Tory or any other voter - sees how badly the Tories run the country and have done for 12 years so far. They've run it into the ground and destroyed the economy in the process. Some might blame COVID but the problems were there long before.
We might be fucked now, but we'll be fucked on a grander scale if Tories stay in power.