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Next Labour Leader - Confirmed as Keir Starmer

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Bald Rick

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Current odds on a certain online peer to peer bookmaker are (roughly):

Starmer 4/1
RLB 9/2
Phillips 8/1
Rayner 8/1
Nandy 9/1
The rest are 20/1 or higher.

Burgon is 40/1, in whom I have invested a couple of quid as he will almost certainly stand, and probably get through to the final few. And then who knows.

There’s a couple of spurious ones in there too, Bercow and Valerie Vaz both at 3/1, but that is a punter chancing their arm on the odds.
 
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I think Starmer would be wrong. The fact that he has been a vocal Remainer will be brought up against him at the next election.

Jess Phillips is likeable but it's not a great list of names, is it ? This realisation may dawn on those who wanted to see the back of Corbyn before this election ... and all those who jumped ship who might have been in with a shout. [The career of Chucka Umunna should serve as a case study in a politics degree - his time to be leader came and then he bottled it and returned to obscurity].
 

cactustwirly

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I'd like to see Andy Burnham as well, though he'd need to be back in Parliament first.
The Labour Party needs to remember when its most successful recent period of government was. If it wasn't for his misguided support of the Iraq war, I suspect Tony Blair would be regarded in much higher esteem.
Whoever leads, the party needs to get back to reality and return to policies that are relevant to the UK as it is now, not how it was pre Thatcher. Tony Blair seemed to capture that sense of modernity with pragmatism and a socialist slant, so it should be possible to do the same again. Otherwise I can't see where the opposition is going to come from, and even the Conservatives would agree that a weak opposition leads to weak democracy.

Given that the Lib Dems increased their vote share in pretty much every region of the UK and the Labour party reduced it's vote share everywhere, the next candidate needs to be centerist
 

cactustwirly

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If we could turn the clock back 10 years and make Alan Johnson the Labour leader, things would look very different now. I have a lot of respect of him.

In the real world, I'd like to see David Miliband back.

Oh, and no-one who's even slightly close to Mao-mentum. They can't form a credible opposition, let alone lead a country.

And they're way too left wing to ever be elected either!
 

Bald Rick

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Interesting that no one has mentioned Sadiq Khan yet.

Given that he is a shoe-in to be re-elected Mayor of London next year, my theory is that Labour will elect another Momentum candidate, lose the next General Election handsomely (in which Khan would stand as an MP) and Khan will become leader then. Gives him a few years to do the political manoevouring necessary. can see
 

bramling

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Interesting that no one has mentioned Sadiq Khan yet.

Given that he is a shoe-in to be re-elected Mayor of London next year, my theory is that Labour will elect another Momentum candidate, lose the next General Election handsomely (in which Khan would stand as an MP) and Khan will become leader then. Gives him a few years to do the political manoevouring necessary. can see

Is Khan absolutely a shoe-in? This is a genuine question as I’d have assumed same, however speaking to people in London a number of people have said they think he is going to struggle, there being an increasing sense that he’s ineffective.

Khan would never be popular outside London - it would be another disaster.

But I agree it’s a name which would very well appear - he’d love the chance to go for it I think.
 

jfollows

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Jess Phillips is likeable, I agree, but I think only because she's able to say what she really thinks and comes across as honest as a result. Even a minor Shadow Cabinet position might destroy this, making her toe the party line with which currently she clearly disagrees on occasions. The danger is that she might not realise this until it's too late, like Chris Mullin did many years ago when he found that he was far less effective as a junior minister (admittedly Labour was in power then) than as a backbencher, and being a chairman of an important committee (Home Affairs Select Committee) was something he felt much more important and significant.

I just feel that any official post, let alone leader of the party, would go against all that is currently good and positive with Jess Phillips and the moment she becomes perceived as quoting a party line as opposed to her genuine position would destroy her credibility. However I can't know that, and it could be that having her as party leader would be very positive.
 

Cowley

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A genuine question (and one that’ll possibly produce a few fruity answers ;)), but why is John McDonnell never mentioned for the post of leader?
(I’m definitely NOT saying I want him to be!)
 

TheBigD

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A genuine question (and one that’ll possibly produce a few fruity answers ;)), but why is John McDonnell never mentioned for the post of leader?
(I’m definitely NOT saying I want him to be!)

He's already rule it out, even as a temporary role.
 

DarloRich

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I struggle to see a decent candidate who would get the endorsement of the current membership. I also suspect the Labour will impose a sexist no men policy for the next leadership, and that Momentum's control of the party will see another hard/far left leader.

For what it's worth, my personal opinion on the supposed frontrunners is...

Keir Starter to too "Londony" to have appeal to the midland and northern seats. His less than stellar time as the head of the CPS is a concern.

Emily Thornberry too sneery. The personification of the sneering Islington elite.

Rebecca Long Daily, supposedly John McDonnell's choice is woefully out of her depth.

Angela Raynor comes across as thick as ****.

Jess Phillips, the shouty misandrist won't appeal to many working class men.

Yvette Cooper's time has gone. And her last attempt at leadership was utterly woeful.

I'm really struggling to see a candidate from current Labour ranks that will turn Labour in to a credible alternative government.

Feel free to offer your own candidates
 

DarloRich

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A genuine question (and one that’ll possibly produce a few fruity answers ;)), but why is John McDonnell never mentioned for the post of leader?
(I’m definitely NOT saying I want him to be!)

He wants to be the kingmaker not the king
 

jfollows

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From The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politic...tory-seats-in-the-north-election-live-updates.

"(John McDonnell) was seen by some as a possible interim leader, but – as a key figure in Labour’s shift towards supporting a second referendum – he has also faced criticism as one of the masterminds behind the party’s election campaign."
He has, however, stated that he's going to leave the shadow cabinet.
John McDonnell to leave the shadow cabinet
John McDonnell has said he will not be returning to the shadow cabinet. The shadow chancellor denied that he had backed the wrong Labour leader, saying Corbyn was “one of the most principled, honest, sincere, committed, anti-racist politicians”.

The new leadership coming in, I think, will enable us to move forward on the key issues – getting a Brexit deal that works for all of us, tackling these grotesque levels of inequality. But the big one ... is climate change and my fear is five years of a fossil fuel-backed government under Boris Johnson means we will miss this five-year opportunity of saving our planet.

... I didn’t back the wrong person because Jeremy was the right leader. We could have won in 2017. Things moved on, Brexit dominated everything and that was the horns of a dilemma we were on.

The new leader will come in place, appoint the shadow cabinet. I won’t be part of the shadow cabinet. I’ve done my bit. We need to move on at that stage, with that new leader, and I think we will be in a position [to be] learning lessons, listening to people and constructing a broad coalition right the way across the country.

McDonnell said there needed to be a debate about how “someone – who I think is one of the most principled, honest, sincere, committed, anti-racist politicians – [was] demonised by a smear campaign”.

“I think we have a wider debate here about the role of social media and the media overall,” he said.

767.jpg

John McDonnell speaking to BBC News.
 

TheBigD

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Feel free to offer your own candidates

That's where I struggle. I look at the current crop of Labour MPs and no one looks like they are leadership material. If Labour want to be a government, and not a party of protest, then they need more talented MPs than they are currently attracting. Labour have lost a lot of talent in the last few years, and that needs to be rectified. The country needs a strong opposition to hold the government to account.

The next leader will have to do the hard graft of getting rid of the Momentum mob like Kinnock had to do with the militant tendency (and the forthcoming EHRC report should help with that), ditching the politics of grievance, the cancer of identity politics, and then having credible policies and vision to appeal to a broad section of society, not just the party faithful.

I don't see the next leader as being Prime Minister either. That will be someone who is yet to be a Labour MP in my opinion.

I'm aware I've not put forward any names of my own, purely because I don't see a suitable current Labour MP that has what it will take to address the issues that are facing Labour. Whilst I like people like Dan Jarvis he isn't going to be elected by the current membership.
 
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Mojo

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There’s a lot of love for Kier Starmer, but for me he seems a bit too cold and won’t connect with all the voters he needs to. He’d also, I think, be the first person to lead a party into an election as a ‘Sir’ since Douglas-Home.
I think Labour would get slaughtered in PR terms if they had yet another male leader.
 

bramling

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I think Labour would get slaughtered in PR terms if they had yet another male leader.

Of course there’s been two female party leaders (one blue one orange) in recent memory who have been resounding success stories...

I really object to the idea that a female leader should be chosen simply because of that. Best candidate for job does it for me, female or male.

Labour has a far bigger problem than what sex the leader is. For starters there’s actually accepting the election result, and it seems the momentum types are currently in sheer denial about that. Every time we see or read on social media some hippy youngster denigrating the result as “disgusting” or bleating on about how “if we all pull together it can be reversed” that’s a further drop down the slope to oblivion (IMO).
 
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DarloRich

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That's where I struggle. I look at the current crop of Labour MPs and no one looks like they are leadership material. If Labour want to be a government, and not a party of protest, then they need more talented MPs than they are currently attracting. Labour have lost a lot of talent in the last few years, and that needs to be rectified. The country needs a strong opposition to hold the government to account.

The next leader will have to do the hard graft of getting rid of the Momentum mob like Kinnock had to do with the militant tendency (and the forthcoming EHRC report should help with that), ditching the politics of grievance, the cancer of identity politics, and then having credible policies and vision to appeal to a broad section of society, not just the party faithful.

I don't see the next leader as being Prime Minister either. That will be someone who is yet to be a Labour MP in my opinion.

I'm aware I've not put forward any names of my own, purely because I don't see a suitable current Labour MP that has what it will take to address the issues that are facing Labour. Whilst I like people like Dan Jarvis he isn't going to be elected by the current membership.

I cant disagree with any of that! I think it could be a two term job to sort out the mess the labour party has to come. A new leader has to come in and clean out the stable and start the journey back to respectability. That is going to be a tough fight as the neo militant entryist types are much more deeply embedded this time around. The fight HAS to be won if labour are to have a chance
 

cactustwirly

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The important thing is to rebuild the Scottish Labour vote, without it Labour are finished
 

TheBigD

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I think Labour would get slaughtered in PR terms if they had yet another male leader.

And that's part of the problem. The next leader's sex should be irrelevant, but thanks to identity politics it is deemed to be more important than actual skills and ability.

[Joking] Now that labour has more female MPs than male MPs, I wonder if they'll bring in all male shortlists to address this lack of underrepresentation [joking]
 

DarloRich

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Current odds on a certain online peer to peer bookmaker are (roughly):

Starmer 4/1
RLB 9/2
Phillips 8/1
Rayner 8/1
Nandy 9/1
The rest are 20/1 or higher.

Burgon is 40/1, in whom I have invested a couple of quid as he will almost certainly stand, and probably get through to the final few. And then who knows.

There’s a couple of spurious ones in there too, Bercow and Valerie Vaz both at 3/1, but that is a punter chancing their arm on the odds.

Burgon. BURGON??????? FFS. the man is thick as mince and less appealing
 

Arglwydd Golau

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I think Labour would get slaughtered in PR terms if they had yet another male leader.

I agree.
Thinking back over the years, on how many occasions has there been a 'leader in waiting?' perhaps we think that there should be purely because of Blair/Brown. The media always like to build up an individual into this role, but doesn't always work out when the vacancy actually arises. (thinking of all main parties here....of course, someone like Farage would just appoint himself!)
 

Jordan Adam

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The important thing is to rebuild the Scottish Labour vote, without it Labour are finished

I can't see that happening, Labour are pretty much a dead duck as far as Scotland is concerned, they should focus on reclaiming their northern heartlands which will be hard for the Tories to keep come the next election rather than pointlessly trying to rebuild in Scotland.
 

Ferret

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Burgon. BURGON??????? FFS. the man is thick as mince and less appealing

Long-Bailey is just as dense! Apparently Burgon plans to stand as deputy leader rather than leader. There’s the Tory dream right there; that pair of incompetents sat opposite them in the Commons.
 

cactustwirly

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I can't see that happening, Labour are pretty much a dead duck as far as Scotland is concerned, they should focus on reclaiming their northern heartlands which will be hard for the Tories to keep come the next election rather than pointlessly trying to rebuild in Scotland.

But Labour can't win without Scotland
 

NoMorePacers

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But Labour can't win without Scotland
Quite frankly, it’s not about winning for Labour right now, or at least it shouldn’t be. The best they can do is to try and make the Tories feel as uncomfortable as possible, and winning back their heartlands will go a considerable way towards doing that.
 

Jordan Adam

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But Labour can't win without Scotland

I mean the Tories pretty much just have (only 6 Scottish seats) so yes they can the theoretically, but they wouldn't be able to get enough seats in the south.

If Labour were to get in to power then i suspect it would be through a coalition with the SNP, which would likely include allowing a Independence vote.
 
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