to think 44 years after the conservatives elected a female leader labour should as well

[lakemountain]

and 40 years since the general population did this proves conservatives are not sexist the general population is not sexist but the labour party is

The Labour party have had a female leader. Margaret Beckett was leader after the death of John Smith until Tony Blair was appointed.

Emily Thornberry, Amber Rudd and Jo Swinson are the most capable MPs in their respective parties.

Until I looked up Jo Swinson's voting record on They Work For You, I was a big fan. She's very much on the Orange Book wing of the party and not an old-school Liberal at all. She's able though, I agree.

Emily Thornberry is very able but so are Laura Pidcock and Angela Rayner. I really like Laura Pidcock and think she might be more electable than Emily Thornberry.

As a Labour member, it almost pains me to say that I am quite an admirer of Amber Rudd. She has really mastered her brief at the DWP and is probably the best minister the dept has had since Yvette Cooper. She's been very willing to make changes to the shambles that is UC, and seems pragmatic, rather than dogmatic. When a Tory W&P minister can impress a benefits adviser who is a Labour member, they must be good!

She was interim leader, just like Harriet Harman. Neither of them have been leaders in any real sense.

That said, if Yvette Cooper threw her hat into the ring I’d be happy. She’s hugely capable.

She carries the taint of Blair and wouldn't win the leadership.

NoBaggyPants

I don't understand your comment about 'They're in the shadow cabinet, hence being sat on the Front Bench'. My point is that the most talented women in the LP are on the back benches and unlikely to be endorsed by the leadership as heir to Corbyn.

You're wrong about having to be a member for 6 months before being able to vote in the 2015 Leadership election. Members and £3 Supporters could join up till Aug 12th and be eligible to vote. Ballot papers were sent out on Aug 14th and the ballot was closed on Sept 10th. The website crashed because so many tried to register on Aug 12th. The pre-Corbyn membership voted Burnham/Cooper/Kendall by around 60-40.

'The Labour Party is a democracy'. Ha ha. So why hasn't Corbyn allowed the membership a say about a Second Ref.? No special conference. No online poll.

Sadly I think you’re right about Yvette Cooper. And my absolute favourite, Jess Philips, is way too sensible and decent to stand a chance.

The Labour Party has introduced laws designed to help women and those from ethnic minorities, but the current one is very unlikely ever to have a person from an ethnic minority or a woman as leader. Given the threats of no-confidence motions to a pregnant MP, the worst ill-treatment of Jewish members being to women MPs, the current membership makes this even less likely than before.

The DUP, Sinn Fein, Alliance Party, SNP, Plaid, the Greens, and perhaps next month the Lib Dems will also have elected a woman as Leader at some point, but not the Labour Party nor the Monster Raving Loony Party (unless their cat who was leader was female). Says a lot.

Yes, Labour is definitely more comfortable with the notion of women as a group to be helped than women holding power.

How is this relevant? I’ve been away from news sources for a bit, but there isn’t a vacancy at the moment, is there?

Unfortunately, no.

Corbyn's leadership is in the news again. There was a story at the weekend about top civil servants worried about his fitness to be PM, because of mental and physical decline. Lots of talk about a G.E. in the Autumn making this relevant.

At the same time, Labour is 4th in the latest YouGov poll and Ipsos Mori has Corbyn's personal rating at minus 58, the lowest ever, lower than Foot. Dissatisfaction with his handling of Brexit and Labour's anti-semitism problem, leading to the loss of up to 100,000 members/supporters and causing a shortfall in party finances. Four out of 10 members, let alone voters, voted for a different party in the EU elections. A lot of anger in the PLP about the Chris Williamson debacle and threats of deselection. The Independent had a story this week that 70 Labour MPs were at risk of being sacked.

Talk of Rebecca Long-Bailey as a potential leader. Something is up. Either the clique around him is preparing the way for a resignation or there's another coup in the offing.

Laura Pidcock is not the answer. To get into power, Labour has to be a mainstream party. She talks like a student union politician and is far too partisan to appeal to the majority of voters. Would never be friends with a Tory. It didn't go down v well when she complained that even on an MP's salary she couldn't afford a house and then months later bought a £250,000 property in a picturesque village. I'd like to know how she got selected for a safe seat in the first place.

Pidcock is an excellent constituency MP and is a rare conviction politician. She’s not leadership material but we could do with more MPs with her integrity.

The Labour party have had a female leader. Margaret Beckett was leader after the death of John Smith until Tony Blair was appointed. when was she elected?

She was never leader, she stood in.

The conservatives only get a female leader when they need a woman to tidy up for them. well you could say that for any new leader.

The country is fucking doomed if the people who get to vote in the next leader of the opposition opt for Rebecca long bailey or Laura sodding pidcock while someone as competent as Yvette cooper is dismissed as tainted by Blair. Fucking outrageous. That is giving up all pretence of actually wanting to be in power.

Anyone who thinks the Tories are less sexist than labour is delusional but it's also true the trad left is deeply sexist.