The now seemingly and sadly inevitable election follow up topic... But who is going to be leading Labour into 2020? Where's PILLHEAD PEN to dish the EXCLUSIVE GOSS?
I don't know why Liz Kendall is being mentioned as a potential leader. She's almost as bad as Rachel Reeves, but then she does have a celebrity partner.
Liz Kendall looks AWFUL. Somehow being married to HIM from the Inbetweeners doesn't make her less look like an insecure STOP FUCKING HATE journalist. What is Dan Jarvis like?
All I know about Andy Burnham from his time as MP up here is that he is passionate about protecting and improving the NHS. Or he was.
Andy Burnham - former special adviser/researcher for Chris Smith and Tessa Jowell Yvette Cooper - former special adviser/researcher for John Smith and Harriet Harman Liz Kendall - former special adviser to Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman Chuka Umunna - former solicitor Dan Jarvis - former soldier Alan Johnson - former postman
I know little of Dan Jarvis but ex-soldier, non career politician has a lot of instant appeal SURELY?
Chuka Ummuna seems like a lazy candidate with obvious "the British Obama" comparisons. He doesn't do well under pressure and doesn't seem especially normal, which since Tony Blair stepped out of the limelight is a quality rarely seen in Labour leaders.
Chuka is just an ethnic career politician. I am aware he is not, but solicitor/ MP are hardly a radical split in public perception. Although a non white political leader would be extremely unique in the Europe?
Chuku is thoroughly dislikable. Andy Burnham is just too awkward I think the ideal would be to pick a much younger unknown and completely revamp the party's image.
I don't see that they have any particularly good options at present. I can see it taking many years to rebuild the party. The overhaul needs to be extremely radical.
I can remember wanting Andy Burnham to win at the last leadership elections but it's too long ago for me now to remember why. I shall reassess when each puts their cases forward.
Labour should definitely consider the benefits of a -1 option in their alternative voting system. If she doesn't go for leader, Stella Creasy really should run for deputy. [video=youtube;GmLHxYhKBcE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmLHxYhKBcE[/video]
OMG I love it when Diane throws her weave into the ring at every opportunity. If they've got any sense, they'll go with Yvette Cooper. Female leaders are the way forward.
If Andy Burnham wins I'm leaving the Labour Party. NO THANKS to having a homophobe leading Labour cheers.
Angela Eagle is contemplating throwing her lesbian hat into the ring. I'm not keen. All this talk about "the next generation" made me wonder what the Red Princes had done in the election. Will Straw - came second Stephen Kinnock-Thorning-Schmidt - won David Prescott - came second Emily Benn - came second
The amount of fucking effort you have to put in for a thankless job where voters blame you for shit you had nothing to do with doesn't really appeal. I've worked with some blindingly talented people who gave up everything else in their life and lost out so unfairly on Thursday, all because of the national picture. For those that don't try again, they've basically just wasted three years of their lives and the best part of a hundred grand.
The 'red princes' spin really annoys me, given David and Emily never stood a hope in hell of winning their seats - it was basically just a courtesy run to boost their local parties with a bit of publicity and added fundraising.
I should also add that the leadership rules need a candidate to receive nominations from 15% of the MPs - that's 35 MPs. As many as they like can try, but only six candidates maximum can make it to the voting stage. Angela Eagle probably won't be one of them.
Who would you are the six likeliest pen? Any wildcards in there? Of the BIG NAMES being touted I think Yvette Cooper is the best option, but she's not THE ONE. Chukku or Burnham would be simply disastrous.
The Labour Party has four electoral threats right now: 1) The SNP in Scotland. Being 40 seats down there leaves us with a twenty seat built-in disadvantage on the current boundaries. After boundary changes (which the Tories now have the majority to bring in) that will be a fifty seat disadvantage, and the current Tory majority will go up to 44. Therefore, we desperately need a leader that can get some of those seats back. 2) The white working-class 'left behind' vote, which has gone to UKIP. This made Tory gains from Labour in places like Morley and Outwood/Southampton Itchen/Gower on Thursday possible, and is probably the biggest long-term threat to Labour, especially if UKIP elect Paul Nuttall as their next leader. 3) The traditional 'aspirational South' and apolitical middle class vote appealed to by Blair. Ed Miliband never had the former but the latter turned out really, really strongly on Thursday to vote Tory specifically because of the fear of a Labour government propped up by the SNP. 4) Civil war in Labour between the left and right of the party - not present now, but likely with a few of the potential leaders. The only one of these Ed Miliband quelled was 4. Andy Burnham is one of the most effective options we have for 1 and 2, but he would basically be toxic to 3, which would make a majority unlikely, and he'd shed plenty of votes to the Greens et al given his fairly backwards views on homosexuality and LGBT adoption (in part this kind of thing is why he would appeal to 2). Yvette Cooper's kept a really low profile the last few years to avoid accusations of disloyalty, so it's difficult to know what message she would be fighting on. 4 would be very unlikely though - she doesn't have many enemies. Chuka would storm 3 much like Blair did, but at the expense of 2 and probably 1. If he were elected the unions would probably behave but grumble, unless things either started going badly or he started slaying a few too many sacred cows, at which point I could see Unite either pulling money or seriously threatening disaffiliation. Liz Kendall basically brings the same message as Chuka but in an earthy non-pretentious way, and has a Midlands working class upbringing which would make her probably more appealing to 2. She's such an unashamed Blairite though that 4 would probably be inevitable. Tristram Hunt will not get the support to run. Stella Creasey would be very interesting but I doubt she will run this time. John McDonnell will do his standard token hard left run and probably won't get enough nominations. Mary Creagh and Angela Eagle are fairly unlikely to get the nominations. Rachel Reeves has ruled out ever standing for leader, thankfully. Dan Jarvis basically solves as many of the problems as possible, in my view. He's totally untainted by Blair/Brown, so 4 is unlikely. As an army man who is the absolute opposite of the career politician archetype that alienates 2 so much, he'd likely make pretty decent progress there. His politics are fairly aspirational and he's got ridiculously good leadership credentials (which would make Cameron look like a schoolboy by comparison), so I think he'd fare well at 3. And I always think it's a good idea to go with the leader who the other side would have no idea how to respond to, and he's one of the few Labour MPs pretty much all of the Tory benches respect for non-political reasons. His only weaknesses are that he doesn't have an especially high profile or much specifically political experience, having not been given a Shadow Cabinet brief, and I'm unsure how much progress he would make in Scotland. But sorting three out of four of our big threats wouldn't be bad work at all, and he certainly wouldn't be incapable of making progress in Scotland. And then the dream punt of GLORIA DE PIERO (which sadly probably won't happen)
