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Original poster

Chuka withdraws from the leadership contest!

151 replies

MagentaVitus · 15/05/2015 10:41

With a turn around that quick, there has got to be a scandal.

What's your bet on? Mine is either scam girlfriend or money troubles.

Thoughts?

OP posts:
Arsenic · 15/05/2015 17:20

Or less complicated.

LumpySpacedPrincess · 15/05/2015 17:45

If he has quit over a threat to expose his sexuality then that is awful, we should be beyond that crap now.

RiskManagement · 15/05/2015 18:07

I don't think it will be over any threat, whatever the scandal is. Just the inevitability that whatever it is will come out and the party would rather he withdraw now than have to step down when it matters.

I don't think it could be because of his sexuality in this day and age but it could be because he lied about his sexuality.

Of course if he's not lying about his sexuality and the girlfriend is real and pregnant, I quite like my previous suggestion that he's had to withdraw because he didn't discuss his plans with her first and she doesn't like the idea of being PM's wife.

Mostly likely tax though.

BettyCatKitten · 15/05/2015 18:18

Do you think his girlfriend could be a 'beard'? Perhaps that's the discovery?
I discovered what the term 'beard' meant on another thread.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/05/2015 18:18

I think wires have got crossed on this thread. The pregnant woman mentioned upthread is nothing to do with Chuka Umunna as far as I can make out!

LikeIcan · 15/05/2015 18:26

He was never going to win anyway so no big deal. Labour need a white man to appeal to middle England - basically another Tony Blair.

RiskManagement · 15/05/2015 18:27

There was a suggestion that the "scandal" was that he girlfriend was wearing the very baggy jumper for a reason, but I don't think that's the case. Even MPs are allowed to have children out of wedlock these days, although he might be advised to get married once baby arrived for the sake of his career(but there is no baby)

Arsenic · 15/05/2015 18:54

He's not gay.

Possibly bi, but not gay.

ChillieJeanie · 15/05/2015 18:58

Guido accuses the left of being disingenuous over Chuka's decision to stand down, which is interesting. I'm not sure how many would have spotted these things - I certainly didn't but then I'm not a reader of Political Scrapbook nor a twitter follower of Owen Jones.

SquirmOfEels · 15/05/2015 19:04

"surely we've reached a point where a potential leader can be out of the closet?"

I'm reasonably sure this would be the case. If genuinely out of the closet. No beards.

TrojanWhore · 15/05/2015 19:06

Grin at this comment from the Guido link:

"If I was a gay Labour party member it wouldn't be the gay part I kept as a shameful secret."

Arsenic · 15/05/2015 19:20

Of course, it used to be possible to point to Ted Heath as a successful bachelor PM.

That's a huge no-no now.

So I guess that's fuelling the need to account for one's self, one way or the other.

WhereYouLeftIt · 15/05/2015 19:41

I know I am a terrible cynic, but my first thought was that he was making a STRATEGIC choice rather than a PERSONAL one.

To use an analogy - the party and the leader have just divorced, and he doesn't want to be the 'rebound' shag leader; he wants the proposal, the ring, the whole kit and kaboodle. So he'll let someone else step in first, and at the next, inevitable, leadership change, then he'll stand.

He wants to be Prime Minister, not a temporary leader of a political party in disarray. He's biding his time.

Madamecastafiore · 15/05/2015 19:45

I thought he was a friend of Dorothy!

claig · 15/05/2015 19:47

No I don't think so, because then he could have just said it was too soon for him and leave it at that. I think there is more to it but I think a metropolitan agreement will mean that we won't find out.

claig · 15/05/2015 19:49

Some of his campaign team are confidently saying that there are no stories in the Sunday press. Nothing to see here.Move along.

LemonYellowSun · 15/05/2015 20:06

I think that he knows it will take more than 5 years do is biding his time.

If he is gay then he wouldn't suddenly be aware that the press would love to expose this.

noddyholder · 15/05/2015 20:08

I'm not sure it will take more than 5

myshinynewusername · 15/05/2015 20:09

Yes, I agree that now he has withdrawn from the leadership contest, the story won't run.

myshinynewusername · 15/05/2015 20:09

Yes, I agree that now he has withdrawn from the leadership contest, the story won't run.

Viviennemary · 15/05/2015 20:12

I think Labour will be lucky if they ever get in again. They are now nearly 100 seats behind the Tories. Still we'll have to wait and see.

RiskManagement · 15/05/2015 20:52

All the strategic reasons he might have decided the time is wrong and for that matter any possible scandal can't have just occurred to him in the last couple of days though. What's changed?

Alos, if he's saying now he can't take the scrutiny etc, how is he going to explain to the public that actually he is tough enough to take it when he does decide to stand?

marshmallowpies · 15/05/2015 21:02

I live bear his constituency and on my local Facebook page, comments (apart from the gay ones) have included rumours about his past as a DJ (ie drugs) and 'don't ask too closely where his family's money comes from' (no idea).

Gay or not, though, one thing I do think is that anyone aspiring to become prime minister does have to realise that the public expect to feel like they 'know' their leader a little bit, that they are a human being, not just a political figurehead. That doesn't necessarily mean doing Hello! photo shoots with your family, but it does mean letting people feel like they know you a little better. Trying to be completely clammed up about your private life and pretend it doesn't matter won't get you anywhere - people will sniff scandal even when there isn't one, and start digging.

Of course it will still be a PR friendly manipulated version of 'you' that gets presented to the world, but it gives your voters something to latch on to (Tony Blair did it very cleverly with football and being photographed with Noel Gallagher).

Obviously this isn't right, or fair, but I think it is inevitable - a potential future prime minister has to realise the public will view them in a slightly different way than they do other MPs and ministers - the PM is public property in a weird kind of way that other politicians simply aren't. Gordon Brown failed to understand that, to his peril.

Amethyst24 · 15/05/2015 21:30

The party machine has nothing to do with who runs - it's up to the MPs to sort it out amongst themselves.

OttiliaVonBCup · 15/05/2015 21:32

The question is who benefits from it.

We'll see.