Times article suggesting Rayner is a shoo-in for PM within months - please god no

[teawamutu]

Hopefully this link will work:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/27184a3f-e513-49a6-871d-bc8c71fa7804?shareToken=1740daa659156e3945fd8e025dbf6d22

She signed every anti-women motion. She said she'd save a bench in the Commons for Liam/’Lily' fucking Madigan. She's pointlessly fighty and I'd bet perfectly happy to try to change the Equality Act. At the very least she'd allow FWS to be undermined.

Talk me down and explain why this either won't happen or won't be a disaster, wise FWRers, please!

The thing about the Labour party, though, is due to the embrace of identity politics they seek to elect people purely on the basis of such disdvantages. So Raynor is suposed to be emblematic of a disadvantaged woman from a northern background, rather than being elected because she is up to the job itself.

Though, of course, yes, lots of mediocre men have been elected to office purely on the basis of being privileged white men of a certain background...but just replicating that pattern in reverse is not the way to move forward in my view.

I honestly think Shabana Mahmood would be perfect. Really strong and capable and a woman of conviction.

Good call. Let's do it!

I can see her bringing all sorts of demographics and factions together; even if in a somewhat compromised way.

And the back benches?

I thought Streeting was the one most Labour MPs wanted? Or maybe not. Talking about Burnham is pointless unless a highly suspect series of events happen to make him an MP!

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2025/12/angela-rayner-is-wes-streetings-biggest-obstacle-to-pm

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/22/four-top-labour-figures-could-beat-starmer-in-a-leadership-race-poll-finds

Rayner could be such an outstanding, admirable example of a woman politician who overcame so many challenges and difficulties, and uses those experiences to stand up for women now she's a successful politician.

She could, but instead she behaves like an obnoxious gobshite suffused with a class warfare that has no place in 2025. I would be ashamed to see her as PM and I believe it would make Labour unelectable, but not before British politics descended into absolute chaos.

Starmer needs to find a backbone and some fucking gumption before it’s too late. Stop running a committee, man, and start LEADING.

She’s more right than Starmer and the left backbenchers are unhappy with that already.

It depends if the labour party want a new PM for the rest of the Parliament, or a PM that can lead them to an election win?

I cant see any of the likely candidates keeping the backbenchers happy and winning the next election.

Starmer is more electable than Rayner.

If you think Starmer's approval ratings aren't great....

I wish I could summon up enthusiasm for any of them, but I can't. Certainly not Shabana Mahmood; she may be a woman of convictions, but I'm not sure I like them.

No, not the Labour backbenchers, but the electorate. I think she could appeal to quite a variety of demographic. It is the electorate that Labour needs to be concerned with in my view, not appeasing its backbenchers. If the Labour backbenchers want open borders, TWAW, and a growing welfare state then they should joing the Greens.

Yes, she is in terms of being very firm on borders, law and order etc - but that is where many ex Labour/now Reform voters are; and it would also appeal to traditional centrist Tories and those who might be inclined to vote Lib Dem too. She's also good on taking a firm line against Gender ideology. She'd bring in some of the more moderate muslim vote.

He's never going to change and become the sort of person he isn't. He got elected by being all things to all people, and saying what he thought all sorts of people wanted to hear......and he's still like that. No firm political principles and always trying to appease.

Labour aren’t thinking of the electorate it’s about backbenchers and the markets. The budget was for those groups primarily.

I think Mahmood would struggle to get Reform voters anyway. If it’s hardline that’s wanted just vote for the party standing by it.

With respect, I am not so sure.

Labour still have to govern - which means, manage the impact on people’s daily lives - which by most measures, is deteriorating. The bond markets will meanwhile almost certainly react negatively to Rayner as PM.

A Rayner appointment would be hugely divisive for Labour, and shorten the odds of an event triggering an early GE, IMO.

Incidentally, I would not be surprised if Rayner has some still-buried personal skeletons.

I'm talking about Shabana Mahmood as the new leader, though, certainly not Raynor.

I'd vote for the Mahmood's firm line, but certainly not for Reform's hard line. People who in no way would vote Reform but who understand the importance of some of the isues they are strong on could well see her as appealing. She seems to have admirers in the Tory party too.

The problem for Labour is Labour's own backbenchers, who don't actually seem that interested in what the public would vote for.

Yes but you’re not a Reform voter anyway right? I’m talking about getting people back.

Shabana Mahmood would be a fantastic leader of the Labour party. She is intelligent, capable and well respected by those she works with. She is really good at bringing people around.

And the most appealing thing about her is that she has the courage of her convictions. She is not a weathervane politician constantly trying to cultivate an image, depending on what the zeitgeist is. The public are really, really sick of self-interested, spineless politicians. She is definitely not that, which is why I think she is the best hope the Labour Party has.

But they won't elect her as leader. Backbench MPs won't support her. And no doubt they will end up with someone like Lucy Powell or Angela Raynor.

Its weird isn't it? - the PLP would prefer to bring back AR rather than get round SM who seems more impressive.

I fear that Mahmood is too right wing to be a plausible alternative to Starmer, hence the Rayner/Streeting ticket.

Correct.

The country is held hostage to the whims of the back benches, and the unions.

It’s simply not sustainable, and there will be a reckoning.

I've also not been voting for Labour and have been spoiling my ballot for the last two elections. For me Mahmood would most likely take a firm line on genderism, puberty blockers etc ( one of the main reasons I stopped supporting Labour), plus she might attract back traditional Labour voters for whom law and order and uncontrolled migration are a major issue.