Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Would you have voted Labour if they had a different leader?

88 replies

FilthyBiscuit · 13/12/2019 01:25

Ok, I'm sorry for another election thread, but DP and me are discussing tonight's results and whether Brexit or Jeremy Corbyn are why Labour are losing so many seats. I know things are not so simple and of course anti-semitism has been such a huge issue as well, but I am just interested in whether if JC had been replaced by someone else if it would have made a difference.

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 13/12/2019 01:39

If they didn't have him, Dear John, Momentum, their policy on the Equality Act and GRC, their unicorn salesmen and if I had not sent back my party membership card about 5 years ago.

I am so disappointed and let down by them I may never vote for them again!

SprogletsMum · 13/12/2019 01:41

I voted for them regardless. Their leader would have to be spectacularly bad, way worse than Corbyn, to be willing to vote for the Conservatives.
My life is going to be bad.

cathyandclare · 13/12/2019 01:48

Yes, could have supported Starmer, Cooper, or (especially) David Miliband.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Politics
safariboot · 13/12/2019 01:53

Maybe, anti-Semitism controversy has dogged him. But I voted more on Labour's policies than on Corbyn himself. If Labour had presented the same policies from a different man or woman, I'd still have been sceptical.

CendrillonSings · 13/12/2019 01:56

The Tories will now have a majority until 2024 at least.

By 2024, it will be exactly 50 years since any Labour leader other than Tony Blair won a majority, on a fiscally-moderate, centrist platform.

Labour needs to ditch the far left if they ever want to win again.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 13/12/2019 02:06

Bloody hell Cendrillon really?

Couldn't stand his brand of Labour either, but I stuck with it.

Slightly left of centre would suit me at the moment. Bit all this hard left/right/Brexit stuff is not politics for people.

CendrillonSings · 13/12/2019 02:11

Yep.

October 1974: Harold Wilson won a wafer-thin majority of 3.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 13/12/2019 02:11

I swore I’d never vote Labour after what Blair did to this country but even I would have voted Labour against horrific Boris had it not been for JC! Labour should have walked it- hopefully Corbyn will finally piss off

Milicentbystander72 · 13/12/2019 02:15

Labour need a huge seachange. .

Like Centrillion says - they only really have ever been successful with Tony Blair on a very progressive, centre-left Politics.

They need a new leader, an entire new shadow cabinet, they need to dismantle Momentum and chuck far out anywhere near Labours orbit.

I think you'll find once Corbyn, Momentum (obsession with Palestine) and their 'wrong think' is gone.....the Anti Semitism problem will quickly disappear.

justinhawkinsnavalfluff · 13/12/2019 02:16

Completely agree he is the reason they will lose when they should have walked this!

JoyceMills · 13/12/2019 02:25

Maybe if it was Keir. Centre right but would have gone centre left

Badhaircut19 · 13/12/2019 05:42

I would have voted for Keir.
Why the obsession with Palestine when there are many other terrible things happening in the world also?Can only be Anti semitism.
I too am angry because Labour has been failing for years when it should have been riding high at this time.What a massive missed opportunity!

Bickles · 13/12/2019 05:47

Not as much the leader as different policies. More centre, slightly left.
The policies on inheritance tax, tax in general, private schools, free dental check ups, free broadband, nationalise everything put me off. Corbyn isn’t great and if they had a better leader like Keir Starmer it would help though.
I didn’t vote Tory yesterday, I went with my gut and voted LibDem but I’m not unhappy this morning. If Labour were in I would be terrified.
At least the pound is up!

lettersbyowl · 13/12/2019 05:55

Agree with @Bickles !!

Ilovetolurk · 13/12/2019 06:01

I think there’s no doubt this election was about brexit

EmpressLesbianInChair · 13/12/2019 06:03

I’m in a very safe Labour seat anyway. But I’d have voted Labour in a heartbeat if they’d unequivocally stated that they weren’t going to bring in self-ID and they were going to reinforce the Equality Act sex-based exemptions.

Even when that didn’t happen, if my Labour candidate had just responded to my email to say she understood why these things mattered? But no. Tumbleweed.

PianoTuner567 · 13/12/2019 06:04

Yes. I think the result is just as much as vote against Corbyn as a vote for Johnson.

WobblyAllOver · 13/12/2019 06:05

No I wouldn't because I didn't like their policies. Voted for labour when they were middle of the ground but not now.

I don't want nationalisation of companies, I don't want free broadband, I don't have children but things like trying to rip up private education is not something I agree with either. Their policies put me off totally.

I don't like Boris and think he is awful as a leader but I align with their policies more so I voted for them.

PianoTuner567 · 13/12/2019 06:06

I also think people couldn’t stomach the idea of another referendum and just more Brexit-wrangling.

Gingernaut · 13/12/2019 06:08

The leader, Momentum, bigotry, a membership which resembles a zealous cult, opaque rules and systems, trans women are women - all this and more prevented me from voting Labour.

Xiaoxiong · 13/12/2019 06:10

Maybe, if having a different and more centrist leader meant different and more centrist policies. Corbyn was bad but the policies bound up in having him as a leader (and Momentum keeping him there) are part and parcel of why I didn't vote for them.

YouJustDoYou · 13/12/2019 06:11

No because I don't agree with their policies and think anti semitism is too rife within the party. JC just gave it an allowable face.

Fredy45 · 13/12/2019 06:11

He was a major reason why I didn't - centre left here. Same for a number of friends and colleagues.

the handling of the anti Semitism issue I found awful.

I respect that he has strong beliefs but that doesn't make a good and credible leader

YouJustDoYou · 13/12/2019 06:12

I also think people couldn’t stomach the idea of another referendum and just more Brexit-wrangling

Exactly. The country voted. Just because the result wasn't liked doesn't mean you can just stomp your foot and demand another vote. They would've kept us in More limbo.

rollonoctober · 13/12/2019 06:13

Both me and my DH have felt politically adrift this election - not wanting to vote for Boris or Corbyn. The fact that we've not had a strong electable opposition in this country since Corbyn became labour leader is a massive issue.

Having said that, I wouldn't have voted labour anyway as I was sceptical about the affordability of their manifesto promises and I am completely opposed to self-Id.

Hopefully this is the wake up call the party needs and we'll see a more centrist Labour Party who can actually provide an effective opposition.

I spoiled my vote - for the first time since I've been able to vote I stood in the booth for about 5 minutes and just couldn't bring myself to put a cross in the box for any of the available options.