Angela Raynor being talked about as possible leader? Surely not.

[Ozgirl76]

I get the point of Raynor - she’s the modern Prescott, the “Everyman”, the one who the trad Labour voters might identify with, with the vaping, clubbing and tax evasion.

But as a leader on the world stage? Have we learnt nothing from Boris? Having a deeply unserious leader is surely not what the U.K. needs now, in this time of global turmoil?

Honestly if she becomes leader the U.K. will be an absolute laughing stock.

I really hated many of Theresa May's policies but I do believe that she had integrity and tried to do what she believed was the right thing. I can respect that while strongly disagreeing with her politics.

I think she experienced horrendous misogyny at the hands of the press and indeed from within her own party.

The reality is that women in politics in all parties get a much harder time than men and have to work much harder to be taken seriously. It is shit that this is still the reality.

Teresa May is honest. Not a great PM but honest. Kemi Badenoch is honest. Angela Raynor is possibly not honest.

I think bringing male Labour figures back from earlier times isn’t that wanted after Mandelson

30% of people intend to vote reform. 70% for another party. We may well end up with a reform goverment that 7/10 people didnt want. If you think things cant get worse, they can.
What labour (and the tories, lib dems etc.) need to think about is how they attract more of the 70% of non-reform voters to their party. You cant 'out-reform" reform even if you wanted to. As this thread suggests Rayner is not likely to bring people back to voting labour. Im not sure who would be a good choice. Starmer was the steady/boring/middle of the road option & it hasnt worked out well. However, i think that is more about how difficult the national & international picture is at the moment than his personality. People are a lot more forgiving when things are going well.

Isn’t that the case now? We have a party that around 80% of the electorate don’t want.

First past the post means parties without a majority of the overall vote win.

Yep so it’s a known thing now not just if Reform do.

I was assuming the alternative parties would be looking at how they could move into a position where they could.

I think (might be wrong) that many labour, lib dem, green and in fact centrist tory voters share more values with each other than reform. I could be wrong though.

Many people have very significant issues with Reform's policies. Other people love them.

I think that those of us who find some of their views, values and very extreme economic policies problematic might look for some common ground even if we have other differences. Im not holding out much hope for this in the current climate though.

For me none of these things come into play at all. It’s such a lazy argument. Although the current version of the Labour Party do have a problem with women.

She’s simply not someone that I could take seriously as a leader. She strikes me as someone who hasn’t moved on from student politics, offering loud unthoughtful opposition to pretty much everything. One thing Kier does understand is complexity and consequences beyond the obvious. It’s a damn shame he’s too easily bent out of shape.

There are many people I wouldn’t want as leader, some men, some women, some northern, some southern, some white, some black, some brown. My most despised leaders of all time have been rich, white, men.

if the only defence that can be made is that someone is disliked for their gender, background or accent, there is little chance that they are a good candidate.

I still maintain that David not winning the leadership election paved the way for the total shitshow that was Brexit etc.

Things would certainly be very different if he had won. I doubt we would have seen Corbyn voted as leader of the Labour Party either if David had won not Ed.

I have to support my people. I’m southern and middle class. But I also became a mum at 16 and there was a rumour of me “doing it” behind the bike shed. Everyone said I’d be a failure would be nice to see someone who did the same become pm.

The pm is just a figurehead and needs the backing of parliament to do anything anyway

i also love gingers even though im (sadly) not one

I know. It's ridiculous.

I’d prefer someone like Andy Burnham personally. He’s Northern with a strong accent, and working class; he is a male (so we’ll
concede that) but he comes across as decent, conscientious, careful and well-respected. He’s also very articulate ( Notherners can be articulate too you know 🙄) and what he says, is worth listening to.
Unlike AR who is the epitome of what the nuns in my all girls-grammar would call “empty vessels make most noise.”

He has absolutely no wish to return and rejoin the Labour Party. He could've come back hundreds of times and many voters (even someone like me who's never voted Labour in their life) would like to see him back, because he's a hundred times more intelligent, likeable and electable than any of the rabble in parliament. But he's clearly far happier doing what he's doing in America. And let's face it, it's a bloody horrible job being a politician. I wouldn't do it for anything!

Is that because pedantry is a much more admirable trait?

Good to see you prioritise what is important. 🙄

The Tories IIRC

Can we have someone who has held a proper job .

Not union reps, councillors, policy advisers…someone who has gone out to work and earned a living. Someone who has been involved in industry, medicine, science - or even had a market stall fgs.

Absolutely, it was the biggest gift to the Tories and set Labour on a more leftwards path which simply doesn’t chime with most of the country.

Sight should not be lost of the fact that Labour only won this election because the Tories were an absolute shitshow for a long time. What we are seeing now is that any movement further to the left is not palatable to the voters.

I was once a union rep - I was going a proper full time job at the same time.

Doing not going

Things could have worked out for Starmer if he had demonstrated leadership, integrity and a degree of competence in his role as PM. Those are fairly basic requirements for any PM.

I think the good people of the United Kingdom deserve better than a choice between a self-serving, egregious liar or tax dodger representing them on the world stage. General election now, please. The swamp needs draining.