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 ?

Yvette is very clever but her entire life has been Labour politics and not rank and file stuff.

Straight from education to research, quickly involved in central office strategy. Rarely in her constituency.

Jarvis went to a comp too and to Aberystwyth University. This is a good piece which tells you a bit about him Definitely not one of the 'political class'

It is relevant though isn't it because it relates to privilege and that sense of entitlement that allows you to preach to nation about austerity whilst drinking from a golden cup...

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/13/david-cameron-austerity-public-sector-cuts

Looks hopeful.

Miliband and Yvette Cooper do not come across, no matter where they went between 9 and 3.30 during their schooldays.

It's a phenomenon I've noticed with TV people too - Evan Davies the other night talking to some people in Wales seemed most uncomfortable and Emily Maitlis is too when they let her out of the studio - they make me cringe.

Contrast with Nicola Sturgeon who seems far more at ease.

The first issue for any leader is about control of the party. Having the deep trust of the rank and file.

That means having a proper rapport with the activists on the ground not just the chosen few of the inner circle.

Those activists have been warning for quite some time about the problems in Scotland and the loss of vote share to UKIP. Yvette is seen as part f the gang who have repeatedly ignored the warnings. Because, to be fair, she is part of that gang.

Labour need a fresh face to reach out to the heartlands and the marginals that they failed to turn this time.

Any potential leader is probably too politically correct for many white working class voters, hence the rise of UKIP/SNP in traditional Labour areas.

when Margaret Hodge stood against Griffin BNP she said Labour had taken their eye off the ball with council housing.

could only happen because Labour has so few members from council houses now

symptomatic

The Liberal Democrats to have a female leader . Kirsty Williams the LD leader in Wales. Sadly due to having a young family she has ruled out running as an MP. Shame as I think she would really so well nationally.

Yvette is incredibly bright and comes across so well in parliament and elsewhere. I don't know enough about where she stands politically - whether centre left, harder left, "progress" or whatever, but she woud be a good, respected leader.

And I do like Stella Creasy. Again she communicates well and comes across as passionate and she seems to have a genuine interest in her constituents. She's been out there with people while an EDL march was taking place, this afternoon. Clearly not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Any potential leader is probably too politically correct for many white working class voters, hence the rise of UKIP/SNP in traditional Labour areas.

MN is so full of lazy stereotyping, this afternoon

The SNP vote wasn't just 'white working class' .

Lots of middle class people like their universalist policies

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadiq_Khan

Sadiq Khan even went to a poly and had a proper job before going into politics.

TRACEY EMIN !!!!

The first Labour female leader to be able to say she kissed a male, Conservative, Prime Minister.

I hope it's one of Dan Jarvis, Chukka Ummuna or Stella Creasy. and one of them as deputy.

HATE Diane Abbott. Fucking Hackney blah blah blah.

HATE Caroline Flint.

Don't mind Yvette Cooper but I think she's too connected to the old Labour, and it needs a complete overhaul and a fresh start.

Yes , my point was that Nicola Sturgeon holds a wide appeal. (The SNP were the tartan Tories.)

We've had a female prime minister in this country and that's nothing new, as for a black leader are we more racist than the U.S? Imo its nothing to do with prejudices voters, vote for personality and policies. A charismatic person with the right policies will win people over.

In a group discussion at work on Weds I said that if Nicola Sturgeon was the leader of the labour party then people would have much more confidence in them.

Everyone agreed (and this was a wide mix of ages, genders, sexual preferences, race and political preferences) sadly mostly middle class university educated- not very diverse in that respect.

We all agreed NS is charismatic, committed, articulate and genuine.

Shame we can't have her as Labour leader

My area is very safely Tory - Jeremy Hunt was resoundingly returned as we nearly all guessed he would be.

UKIP came second.

I think it's much more complicated than simply saying that UKIP did well in traditionally Labour areas. They did well in traditionally Conservative areas, too. What did happen was the complete collapse of the LibDem vote.

I think many of those LibDem voters voted Conservative this time around and it was hard-line Right wingers that deserted the Conservatives to vote UKIP.

NIcola Sturgeon has really surprised and impressed me... committed, confident and plain speaking. I'm pro-Union, but find myself nodding and agreeing a lot when she speaks. She's very much the style of leader that Labour needs.

caroldecker please forgive me for picking on your post but I do so because it is symptomatic of the gap in communication going on in the UK.

Stop blaming the electorate for being anti politically correct and start looking at the political parties that purport to represent them.

It would be good to have a female leader but not just for the sake of having a female leader, I want Andy Burnham though because I think he's the best person for the job.

If Labour want to return to power they need to reach voters beyond their core support. Yvette Cooper will never do this as she's tainted by her connection to Ed Balls and also the disastrous Brown government. Andy Burnham or Tristam Hunt might be possibilities.

I'd love to see Rachel Reeves in with a chance - I think she'd be great. Don't think she's thrown her name into the hat this time though - I guess when you're shortly going to have your second child, it may be a rather high pressure job to opt for