Who should be Labour leader?

[HillyMillylunchmunch]

Massively simplistic question I accept, but I was a huge fan of Corbyn in the beginning, I still am a fan of many of his policy views in general - ie socialism is good (told you this was simplistic ), but he's really got the whiff about him of a man out of his depth, in the wrong job, slowly dragging his party to demise

Given we may well have a general election in the next year or two, and we definitely will in the next 4 years, who would be a Labour leader that you could get behind?

I guess this question is directed at Labour voters and swing voters, probably not much at Tories who will never vote anything other than Tory

I don't have any strong contenders myself to start the list off with I'm afraid, but I promise I am a normal person and not some kind of bot / Labour party researcher.

I'm interested in seeing who more knowledgeable people might champion.

Posted in Brexit as I'm a very frustrated and unhappy remainder who is worried about the face that there is no decent opposition when one is desperately needed in the current situation

Broon did not mend the roof while the sun was shining
Broon missed every one of his growth / debt targets for 13 years
and Balls was his loyal attack dog right through

This is silly and childish - why the name calling?

Brown as chancellor presided over a period of historically low levels of government debt. Just go and google it.

He wasn't a very good PM (though tbh history will be kinder to him than to Cameron or May) but you can't blame him for the global financial crisis. And why would Labour ministers who did not work at the treasury be "barred" from further service? One of the big issues with Labour right now is the abysmal quality of the front bench.

Mistigri
Gordon Brown fell for the low tax myth while keeping spending high so ran a deficit every year Labour were in power
www.economicshelp.org/blog/2674/economics/factors-affecting-current-account-deficit/
He was stupid to allow interest only repayment mortgages without a capital vehicle.
He should have stopped PFI
He should have stopped council house sales.
He was not a good Chancellor.
He was a worse Prime Minister.

I have no issue with the bulk of his former front bench : Yvette Cooper and David Milliband in particular
but I do have a problem with how Ed Balls conducted himself.

Then again they did have the eejit Corbyn ignoring the whip most weeks

@Talkinpeece

UK debt to GDP ratio, pre and post financial crisis. (source: fullfacts)

This was despite significant increases in NHS and welfare spending.

I think Yvette Cooper has (rightly) won the MN nomination here...and since we're revisiting my 2015 ballot paper I'll stick with Stella Creasy for deputy on the basis of her excellent work challening payday lending.

Keir Starmer doesn't have the experience to be leader (yet) but would make a great Home Secretary.

Angela Rayner keeps Education in my fantasy shadow cabinet as a) as someone who was badly let down by the education system she has a perspective which I suspect is unique in that job and b) she's great.

Brown as chancellor presided over a period of historically low levels of government debt

Yes, indeed, as for his first term in office, he kept to the Tory spending plans he inherited. It was his second term when he started his spendthrift ways that things started to go wrong. "No more boom and bust" should be written on his headstone. Each year he revised his own "golden rules" as he never met his own target and constantly expanded the length of his "economic cycle" - all that was before the crash. Not to mention the more stupid and damaging changes he made, i.e. tax breaks for limited companies then wondered why sole trader window cleaners were converting themselves into limited companies? The pension scheme dividend tax grabs which decimated pension schemes. Selling off the nation's gold at rock bottom prices. The man was a deluded fool.

Not sure now, tbh. I don't share the general mn love for Yvette Cooper at all. I think Keir Starmer would be brilliant when he's ready, but I'm not sure he's ready yet. Maybe Tom Watson as a sort of caretaker?

Angela Rayner I have high hopes of for the future.

Broon abolished boom and bust months before the biggest bust in our lifetimes

I don't recall ever having a politician called Broon?

I dont think Yvette Cooper should become leader of the labour party as she is a woman. To back this up I could also point out that she is obviously not a man and we have just had TM doing an awful job possibly because she is a woman too, so YC is more associated to these failing tendencies.

How good does that sound? Well that's what it sounds like when YC is nominated by some on here just because she is a woman I.e. possibly excluding a viable candidate purely because they are a man...I.e. ridiculous, bigoted and sexist.

FWIW I think Yvette Cooper would be a good candidate alongside Keir Starmer and David Miliband ....nothing to do with any of their genders though....and the fact I think TM is not doing a v.good job is nothing to do with her gender either.

Well that's what it sounds like when YC is nominated by some on here just because she is a woman

Do point to where on this thread that has happened.

I would vote for Yvette Cooper. I'd like David Milliband to come back.
Rebecca Long Bailey seems serious and principled. She could be a future leader.
I like Emily Thornberry but she seems to set the far right wingers off, and tabloids would have a field day with her.

There is no way they will not have a female leader next. No way.

It will surely be whoever is approved by Momentum etc unless the membership changes.

Yvette Cooper but i do like Jess Phillips, needs more experience perhaps.
As said by PP Rayner would be a great ed sec.

Starmer to me, is like all the other male politicians we ve ever had.

Corbyn got 60% of the membership vote the first time (next highest candidate, 19%) and 62% when challenged by Owen Smith.

Does anyone seriously think the party can now ever be led by someone not of the far left? The next leader will be another irrelevant Trot. As will the one after that.

It cannot be rescued. It’s over. There will have to be a new party.

Tommy Cooper

Corbyn got 60% of the membership vote the first time
Because silly Milliband had nobbled the membership with the £3 deal

When Corbyn loses a general election he and his Momentum thugs will be sent packing
(and take Derek Hatton back out of the party with them)
and the party will revert to the norm.

Actually what is really needed is Electoral Reform so that the Labour and Tory Parties can each split into three and then every vote would count and we would see what the British public really feel.

Does anyone seriously think the party can now ever be led by someone not of the far left? The next leader will be another irrelevant Trot. As will the one after that.

It cannot be rescued. It’s over. There will have to be a new party.

Oh, don't be silly. The left of the party said the same in the Blair years. The Tory party was apparently finished in that era too, doomed to choosing leaders the electorate would reject, seen as the nasty party few would admit to voting for. Labour will change as all parties do. Maybe not soon enough for those who hate and despise their current leadership and its supporters, but at some point, the pendulum always swings back.

Both Labour and Tories are irretrievably split on Europe. We need 2 new parties so they can both split. We need a pro and an anti Europe right wing party and a pro and an anti Europe left wing party.

mostdays if only that were true.

This isn’t a party able to change course any longer. The far left wanted a significant parliamentary presence and has now got it. Momentum and the like will never give up control. The voting and control of the machinery is locked down in favour of the far left already. Centrists will never join en masse or waste half their lives in dull CLP meetings. Or be willing to endure organised bullying.

Even Mandelson (or was it Blair?) has said that he doubts this can be put right.

It is definitely over for sensible politics in the party.

Yes and no.
A lot of the £3 members are deeply unhappy that Corbyn has turned out to still be pro Brexit.
eg
Islington voted over 70% to Remain. Its MP (Corbyn) is not supporting the wishes of his electorate.
Come the next election, he has to be VERY, VERY careful

Momentum are very loud, but there are very few of them compared with the actual number of voters.
If Momentum force radical left candidates in middle type seats, other parties (hopefully once Jo Swinson takes over from Vince) will slot into the gap.

These are such strange times.

I think if the Conservatives were more palatable they would trounce Jeremy and vice Versa so we are all stuck in a weird stale mate where "Dunno" is the most popular leader.

A lot of the £3 members are deeply unhappy that Corbyn has turned out to still be pro Brexit.
eg
Islington voted over 70% to Remain. Its MP (Corbyn) is not supporting the wishes of his electorate.

I doubt that will matter much inside the party. We’re talking a controlling membership bloc of wild-eyed Trots and Tankies here. They will sacrifice any view for the continuation of a bonkers left leadership.

It would be hilarious to see Corbyn lose his seat over Brexit, but it won’t happen. And even if it did another far leftist would be voted in as leader.

I think over time as other parties get more palatable the situation could get dire for Labour it he's replaced by someone equally as uninspiring.

Maybe then David Miliband will ride in on his big horse.

Aaargh! Please not Keir Starmer.

He went to our DC's school and our already insufferable egotistical Head would be beside himself with excitement...

Yvette won't get it because she's a woman, and a bit like Hillary Clinton, they won't want to risk losing any secretly misogynistic votes...

Also worth noting that Momentum members are by and large in favour of a people's vote (detailed breakdown is here, the answer to q.5 is the most important), so I am not sure Corbyn will always be able to count on their unconditional support.