About Labour's next leader

[OxfordCat]

So there'll be a battle between Momentum and the social democrats / centrists. I am totally against Long-Bailey who's been groomed as Corbyn mark 2 for a while now. I think she's awful. As much as I personally agree with the majority of views on MN and favour Kier Starmer, if I try to take myself out of my remain bubble for a minute and think about those northern leave voting 'wall' constituencies / Workington man etc etc, would they really go for Starmer? I'm not sure if they'd see him as another Westminster elite. (As they would Thornberry / Benn).

So thinking about how Labour can win back their 'heartlands' could Lisa Nandy be a goer? She voted remain but strongly sided with leave after the referendum (soft Brexit) and is from Wigan, popular with her constituents. A genuine human being, in it for the right reasons, articulate with quick intellect.

However she is a woman! Which the gammon might not like...

So, all those of you who have signed up to join Labour in the last few days will be aware of the questionnaire you have to fill in.

For those of you are older members, it asks you why you're joining ('to support Jeremy Corbyn', etc.).

Well:

From Twitter:

Paul Waugh
@paulwaugh

"

At PLP Mps openly derisive when gen sec Jennie Formby says new members and afflliliates will be vetted to make sure they are in sympathy with "our values".
"You've got to be kidding!" heckles one MP. Obvs aware of Formby hard left history."

I really really hope Phillips doesn't go for it, I think we need her where she is atm. She could go for it in 5 or 10 years after she's done the equality and dv and poverty and justice things. Not much, then! We need a strong advocate like her for a while yet. As Leader she'd have to concentrate on other things and I'm not sure there is anyone else who can do what she does. (I am a big fan.)

Violet I know. I was being grumpy and flippant. Although imo the women that momentum tend to support are usually ones they feel they can manipulate/control. I don't know enough about RLB to know whether that's the case with her or not.

Personally, I think Phillips' advocacy on dv and equality was knocked by her inability to define a woman. Although, ironically, she has been targeted by TRAs for not being supportive enough.

Interview in The Guardian with Keir Starmer.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-pitch-radical-government?CMP=ShareAndroidApppCopytooclipboard&twitterr_impression=true

I like this. He's pitching to both sides of the Labour Party - which is good.

Ah good on KS.

I will be voting for Keir Starmer. He is a great human rights lawyer - someone morally and intellectually able to demolish BJ and his shabby team.

Will northerners want KS? He’s Remain and London. They want a northern leader to represent them. Definitely want a leaver. I think he’s very bright but might not be acceptable to northern labour voters.

I’m not convinced the working man (are they only in the North?) really wants a woman leader. No one liked Jo Swindon. No one liked Margaret Thatcher! Jo Swinson was labelled as shrill!

The big problem is the leave voters and getting the aspirational voters back on side. Remain made more sense for ordinary people but they didn’t see it like that. Whether Angela Raynor, Jess Philips or Rebecca LB can really get the aspirational voters back in their millions and get leave voters to trust them is asking a lot. Ditto Emily T.

Can any of you see RLB or Jess P making it to Number Ten? From where they’re starting it seems pretty much impossible, even given Johnson’s ability to self-sabotage. Classic glass cliff.

If Andy Burnham does a decent stab at Mayor of Manchester then that could stand him in good stead to take over from whoever loses the next election. Keir Starmer will be well into his sixties by the time of the next election, so probably can’t wait, but Burnham is eight years younger and can afford to sit out a cycle.

In a word, 'No.'

Think RL-B likely to win because of Momentum backing - which will be a disaster, frankly.

Well, let's hope there's a mass outbreak of sense.

John McDonell has distanced himself from R L-B by distancing himself from the whole leadership contest.

But he is rarely listened to.

In other news, the Sunday Times has a story on the terrible election campaign, run by Milne and Murphy - who are backing R L-B (& Murphy is in charge of her campaign, I think, or taking done role in it).

So ...

I don't know.

I find it bizarre that Labour can lose so, so badly ... and effectively want to do the whole thing, all over again, with only the figurehead changed.

Surely that's madness?

I keep coming back to the fact there were 14 years between 1983 and 1997 and this defeat was worse than 1983. Organisations take so long to change and labour is unfortunately in the worst election shape since 1935...it is a damn shame but I can’t see labour coming back in 5 years to win at this rate.

I was surprised Corbyn resigned this time though, I’m not at all surprised his speech was so mealy mouthed or that his followers are still not getting it. That’s why I left labour.

Twitter says that Rebecca Long Bailey has appointed a Stalinist to run her campaign.

So that will go well.

Corbyn is very testy though and has probably had enough. It is madness to keep doing the same thing and getting the same result - losing! Political parties exist to gain power. The Conservatives appear to understand this. Labour don’t. This is because too many Labour supporters (Momentum) have treated the party like a left wing pressure group, not a political party. If they understood about gaining power, they would see the need to change. Blind faith in left wing policies and expecting the majority to pay up isn’t going to work. This is why the aspirational won’t vote Labour. They cannot afford to.

However they do care about the NHS, education and housing. A smaller number of well thought out policies with a vision for the future instead of retro policies such as nationalisation would appeal to more people.

If RLB is leader, heaven help them. She’s a lightweight puppet and certainly not a high flyer like KS.

Rebecca Long Bailey,

Rebecca Long-Bailey was forced to defend working on PFI deals within the NHS.
Before becoming an MP, Ms Long-Bailey worked on a team which reportedly drew up deals that saw £190m worth of NHS property handed to investment companies based in Luxembourg.

Asked how this fit in with her claim to have always wanted to “defend the NHS”, she said that when she was a corporate lawyer, she had to work on PFI contracts because they were “the only game in town.”
She told the BBC’s Andrew Neil: “In terms of those PFI contracts, if you were granting a lease to a GP, a pharmacy or any other local community organisation, any new hospital was comprised of a PFI deal.
“So all of the leases out of that for 30 years, Andrew, were subject to those PFI terms - insidious PFI terms - that meant they were paying far above market value for their services.”

Andrew Neil ripped her to shreds. She was truely awful. How anyone could vote for her I have no idea.

Andrew Neil ripped her to shreds.

She was absolutely awful. She couldn’t answer the most basic questions about the cost of de-carbonising (if that’s a word) the energy sector. Her defence was that much of the money would come from the private sector.

How the hell is that supposed to work if the energy sector is nationalised?

Her winning the leadership would be the greatest gift to the tories since Jeremy Corbyn.

She won't win, it will be Starmer. I suppose he might feel obliged to offer her a job in cabinet though - or with a really big win he might decide to go for a more ruthless clear out.

When Labour suspends someone like Trevor Philips over Islamophobia they really are fucked.

BubblesBuddy
No the northern voters don't want KS, the barrister did well for us, a Blairite, Remain / Rejoin / FOM etc. They might aswell stuck 2 fingers up.

AS for a woman, I don't think they would be bothered either way TBH.

RBL is unlikeable in reality.

Nandy is better but still see KS.

Phillips gone now, but was basically Swinton on steriods a big loser.

Thornberry well.

I think it speaks volumes about Labour.

The leadership election has only cemented the views of the north taht they don't give a stuff because they will get seats anyway. 5 days or so or LGBT headlines, people think what % of population against, homelessness, food banks etc. More interested in minorities and tilting at windmills than looking after the people they are supposed to represent. Carry on as they are and in the north they will go the way they have in Scotland. There is no SNP to vote for so it will go more right wing.

Whoever decided it was a good idea to have the stuff televised wnats shooting. They are playing to an audience that bears no relation to the reality of the general population, especially in the north.

The North blah blah, The North blah blah. There's no such place as The North, so you don't know what they want.

LittleRootie Mon

The North blah blah, The North blah blah. There's no such place as The North, so you don't know what they want.

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They don't want a bleeding heart knight of the welth barrister, who wants to remain rejoin FOM etc. I think teh election results proved that.

Same with PHony Tony Tory and Brown once eeverybody knew it was just more of the same.

Corruption, Tory, Southern Bias, American Puppet.
Norman Tebbeit Communitiies Mangaer and Phillip Green as Head of HRMC.

Blah Blah Blah Blah.

Nice to see them disapear up their own exhaust pipe, Traitors.
Jess Phillips for Empress, RBL for her Transgender Partner and Dianne Abbot for Female BAME and I think Keith Vaz to have the male side, junky covered for safe measure.

You seem very wound up for someone who believes Labour has no chance and Starmer won't be wanted - literally spewing bile.