Aibu to think that it is about time Labour had a female leader ?

[frumpet]

And if they did who should they pick in your opinion ?

YANBU but it will be a cold day in the antithesis of heaven, before I'd vote for Harman, after her documented work for Civil Liberties Council, which helped PIE get money. She has never publicly acknowledged how dodgy that whole period was, and in the wake of Saville et al, that's the least she should have IMHO.

Rally my dp said the same this morning.
I myself would like yvette.
Neither of us were a fan of Ed, he wouldn't have made a Good PM Imo.

Prorsum, you think London is the only part of the country who is Labour. Ever heard of that tiny little place called Birmingham? London is the only place where open minded, tolerant people live? Utter nonsense.

Oh yes Stella Creasy!! She's amazing. Maybe not this time but one day, I hope.

Yes, Stella Creasy! That's the name. I really like her. I voted conservative this time, but easily see myself voting for her next time.

For the sake of the country, I hope Labour take their time, really analyse what went wrong and then choose a leader without quickly grabbing one of the obvious-to-them-usual-suspects.

Labour need a strong charismatic leader, but the next one may well be to burn before the next general election in 5 years.
I doubt any leader can make it to the finish line for that long to win back a majority.
At this point in time, it doesn't really matter who the leader is, IMO. As soon as the Tories start fucking up, there will be a protest vote for other parties for the European Parliament and local elections and Labour will probably do fairly well regardless (unless the electorate goes for
The leader that Labour needs to win elections should come in about 3-4 years from now, unless they don't have the guts to replace the burn out guy.

This is all to say that even if a woman goes in now, I'd feel sorry for her.

Yay to Yvette Cooper. I think it would be good for the opposition. I actually think it's Cameron & the front bench blind spot/ weakness e.g. Non posh women seeing as they went to public school. They are very comfortable in the all male environment. One of the reasons I think Nick & Dave worked well in coalition ( similar backgrounds). When DC gets ruffled it's often in encounters with women e.g. Remember Angela Eagle 'calm down dear'. The smooth PR mask often slips.

If there was a woman suitable then yes it would be a good thing. She probably couldn't be more unsuitable than Ed so that is a starting point. I don't like Yvette Cooper or Harriet Harman very much. But Ed was just so wrong from the start. Labour will have to get somebody who appeals to the masses. Not just Labour party members.

I know what Prorsum means and it's true, but it makes me angry, too. His colour shouldn't come into it. He'd be brilliant, but they'll be taking a risk.

Look at the way Neil Kinnock was dubbed "The Welsh Windbag" and the way the right wing media carefully made everyone aware that Ed Milliband's background was Jewish immigrant.

The main objection to Yvette Cooper is her husband, Ed Balls. Margaret Thatcher managed because Denis was relegated to voiceless consort. I can just imagine the accusations of Ed's Puppet if Yvette becomes leader.

With a complete change of leadership for the next election, I wonder if they'll all be women?

Like others, I believe that the new leader should be the most capable, regardless of gender,
I think Chukka is too metropolitan (like Andy Burnham) to be an appealing leader. Labour's problem is that they have so few MPs that actually look as though they've done a day's work. I was very sorry to see Jim Murphy lose his seat, as he seems like someone who's actually in touch with real people.

peckhamplex I don't believe that a woman should be picked purely because she is a woman , but if there are 99 female labour MP's , then chances are that at least a few of them will have as many leadership qualities as some of the 133 male MP's .
The Libdems might struggle because I don't think they have any female MP's this time round do they ?

sorry - not especially appropriate to the thread, but this made me laugh

I don't know about Stella creasy en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Creasy

She's yet another Oxbridge career politician who has an aristocratic ancestry.

Maybe that will appeal to the middle englanders labour needs to win back (even if she might not appeal to old labour/trade union types)

Jim Murphy - "in touch" yeah that's why he lost 40 seats including his own.

I didn't realise yvette cooper used to work for bill Clinton!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvette_Cooper

She's obviously very smart and is actually a qualified economist which is what we need. (Looking at you, Gideon, with your history degree).

I remember reading some research that suggested that women were more likely to be appointed to a high ranking position (e.g. CEO, party leader, election candidate) if it was a shit job, than if it was a good one. So women are more likely to be selected to fight a seat that no one thinks is winnable, for example. If it's a plum job, then it will probably go to a man.

So the next leader may well be a woman, simply because it's a dead end and the party have nothing to lose by appointing a woman.

I'm not interested in the sex of political leaders. I'm interested only in their competence and honesty.
I'm not a Labour voter but nonetheless would hate to see my fears come true and Harriet Harman at the helm. I'd rather anyone than her.

Smoorikins I didn't actually say that but you did.

hobNong and ThatIsNachoCheese My point was that I think there is more open racism outside of London than other areas. Of course there is racism here, masses of it but I think people are more used to seeing people of varying skin shades on a daily basis and that does make a difference to peoples perceptions.

I live in one of the most diverse areas of London, it's got a wide socio-demographic variety as well. One of the things people who have moved into London from various part of the UK tell me is how different and strange it was at first to see so many different races, they did not mean Poles, French or any other Caucasians. They meant people who look like me or Chukka. They weren't racist, it's just not what they were used too.

A relative moved to Surrey a few years ago and the experiences she has had defy belief. She's almost in London but if feels like a completely planet sometimes. I was born here and still occasionally get asked where I'm from; this happens on the rare occasions I leave London.

Looking at that link, Stella Creasey is vaguely related to Polly Toynbee so the right wing press would love that. Don't agree there just be a female leader regardless but, playing the game, what about Caroline Flin? Agree that Chuka is not ready

I think to be fair if you go to any large city in the UK there will be diverse areas and wide socio economic variety as well , it isn't something which is unique to London prorsum

I'm not interested in the sex of political leaders. I'm interested only in their competence and honesty.

This.

Harriet isn't standing, I want Nicola Sturgeon but not because she's a woman but because my god she's scary and bright and articulate and scary!! what do you mean I can't have her . But whoever is the next leader , even if it were God himself, our gutter disgusting antidemocratic press will be there trying to destroy him/ her. It's good that it will be awhile before the election of the leader because Labour need to think about their direction of travel and then choose the leader best suited to that. But they are going to have to be tough - and scary - which takes me back to...

Harriet Harman is running the leadership election as Dep Leader. There's no question of her standing. Doubt if she would anyway.

I like Yvette, and with Ed, perhaps only temporarily? out of the way, she could shine. V articulate, but needs a bit more warmth.

Can't stand Caroline Flint. Or Diane Abbott, come to that. Chukka's time might come, but he's too young and inexperienced for this time round.

I think it'll probably be Andy Burnham

Just hope they get it over quickly. We need someone to start leading the Opposition asap - not like last time.

Harriet Harman is stepping down as deputy leader. She said the Labour Party needs a whole new leadership team.

Yeah I hadn't thought of Caroline Flint en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Flint.

She's been on question time plenty of times and has been an mp since 1997. Falling out with Gordon brown will probably go in her favour!