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Next Labour Leader - Confirmed as Keir Starmer

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433N

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Quite. It's a recurring theme in modern politics, and it's completely unhelpful and self-serving. All parties aiming to win votes rather than an ideological purity award need to realise you need to appeal to a cross section of people. Few people other than the completely indoctrinated are going to agree with a party's stance on everything.

One nation and broad church are Tory party cliches, but the reality is they've managed to capitalise on selling themselves as the best choice overall to many, even if you don't agree with everything.

It is not so much a theme in modern politics, as a theme in modern British politics with its two party political system which is particularly susceptible to the polarising effect of the internet where everyone talks and no one listens.

A better system is surely one in which we have a broad spectrum of parties and government is by consensus and compromise.
 
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mmh

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It is not so much a theme in modern politics, as a theme in modern British politics with its two party political system which is particularly susceptible to the polarising effect of the internet where everyone talks and no one listens.

A better system is surely one in which we have a broad spectrum of parties and government is by consensus and compromise.

I disagree, it's not peculiar to British politics, and it occurs in parts of Britain which do have a wider selection of parties. Coalition / agreement / consensus government hasn't served us well when we've had it in any of the British parliaments.
 

433N

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Coalition / agreement / consensus government hasn't served us well when we've had it in any of the British parliaments.

Any metrics that you care to quote as evidence for this assertion ?

(my preference being PR anyway, not the system we currently have).
 

Mojo

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The results of the election for this contest are due shortly.
 

geoffk

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The results of the election for this contest are due shortly.
About time. It's been 16 WEEKS since the General Election! At a time of national crisis, a new leader should have been in place before Christmas.
 

Mag_seven

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About time. It's been 16 WEEKS since the General Election! At a time of national crisis, a new leader should have been in place before Christmas.

We didn't know at Christmas there was going to be a national crisis. That said given the scale of the Tory majority we needed a new opposition leader much sooner than 16 weeks after that election.
 

geoffk

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We didn't know at Christmas there was going to be a national crisis. That said given the scale of the Tory majority we needed a new opposition leader much sooner than 16 weeks after that election.
I was referring to Brexit really, but the Chinese were alerted to the virus in December.
 

Domh245

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Not exactly a surprise, but hopefully a step in the right direction. Whether he'll be able to recoup the lost voters it's difficult to say
 

Typhoon

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About time. It's been 16 WEEKS since the General Election! At a time of national crisis, a new leader should have been in place before Christmas.
Yes, its been too long. But before Christmas? Too likely to have voted in the unelectable (and there was more than one). 'Act in haste, repent at leisure/ in sorrow' - take your choice.
 

AM9

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Thank god for that. Hopefully, rather than the SWP pipe dreams of Momentum, we might actually have a proper opposition but you can still write off a Labour victory until 2029 (at least)
Much more important at the moment, Kier is probably the best of the three to work with the Government on matters of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis. He has held high office and probably understands some of the checks and balances tha are being juggled with. That background will also enable him to hold the administration to account without making it a purely political squabble.
 

Typhoon

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Starmer now needs to persuade some of the those who refused to serve under Corbyn or weren't radical enough for him, to return to the front benches. Some of the current occupants are clearly out of their depth.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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Starmer now needs to persuade some of the those who refused to serve under Corbyn or weren't radical enough for him, to return to the front benches. Some of the current occupants are clearly out of their depth.

Indeed - people like Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper, but think Lisa Nandy should be elevated; she performed well in interviews with Neil and Marr.

Richard Burgon though.... :rolleyes:
 

TheBigD

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I know the victory speech was pre recorded but Kier's speech didn't fill me with much confidence that he has what it takes to get Labour back towards credibility. Whilst I get that he's not the most charismatic of politicians, I wasn't expecting his speech to be so uninspiring and dull. I hope he improves in the coming weeks and months.

It will be interesting to see who's in what position when he announces his shadow cabinet, as a few of us have said before, Labour isn't exactly blessed with an abundance of talent at the current time.
 

AM9

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I know the victory speech was pre recorded but Kier's speech didn't fill me with much confidence that he has what it takes to get Labour back towards credibility. Whilst I get that he's not the most charismatic of politicians, I wasn't expecting his speech to be so uninspiring and dull. I hope he improves in the coming weeks and months.

It will be interesting to see who's in what position when he announces his shadow cabinet, as a few of us have said before, Labour isn't exactly blessed with an abundance of talent at the current time.
Surely you mean that Labour hasn't used much of its talent in significant roles. I don't think that he will need to do much more than call the Conservatives out on some of their handling of the epidemic, but if they carry on with the pointless obsession of disengaging from our current trade position with other European countries because they said they would, he would rapidly present plenty of opposition despite not having a numerical majority.
 
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C J Snarzell

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Mr Starmer has actually made contact with Boris Johnson already and stated they will put their differences aside while the UK is suffering the Covid19 epidemic which is clearly a sensible move.

Jeremy Corbyn was still criticising his rivals right to the very end about their tactics during the epidemic. All MPs should be putting aside any grievances until all this crisis is over with.

CJ
 

gazthomas

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Mr Starmer has actually made contact with Boris Johnson already and stated they will put their differences aside while the UK is suffering the Covid19 epidemic which is clearly a sensible move.

Jeremy Corbyn was still criticising his rivals right to the very end about their tactics during the epidemic. All MPs should be putting aside any grievances until all this crisis is over with.

CJ
Spot on. Starmer seems a sound enough fellow, let's see how things work out in the coming weeks and months but what we dont need at the moment is too much devivesness
 

Peter Bonner

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Any metrics that you care to quote as evidence for this assertion ?

(my preference being PR anyway, not the system we currently have).
Surely WW1 and WW2 coalitions could be used as an indication that coalitions can work?
 
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Tetchytyke

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Mr Starmer has actually made contact with Boris Johnson already and stated they will put their differences aside while the UK is suffering the Covid19 epidemic which is clearly a sensible move.

Providing Starmer doesn't let Johnson and his smorgasbord of ***** get away with their lying, I'd agree. As it stands, we need someone questioning why NHS staff don't have sufficient PPE and aren't getting tested. Gove needed to be nailed to the wall for his lies last week- Robert Peston managed it, so Labour do need to follow through on it.

you can still write off a Labour victory until 2029 (at least

For now Johnson will be riding high on the crest of "support the flag", but he's got five years yet. So we'll see what happens when it becomes apparent that Tory failures in Feb and early March actually killed people needlessly. And definitely if we're still in a depression in two or three years.

(That said, I thought 2010 was a good election to lose, so what do I know!)
 

Peter Bonner

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Boris is lover of Churchill but dont forget that he won the war but within months of its successful outcome he was booted out in the 45 election. If Boris messes up now at least there isnt an election for 4 yrs. But.....full impact of current crisis we dont know yet: politics like economy and society may be profoundly changed.
 

Typhoon

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As it stands, we need someone questioning why NHS staff don't have sufficient PPE and aren't getting tested. Gove needed to be nailed to the wall for his lies last week- Robert Peston managed it, so Labour do need to follow through on it.
It wouldn't surprise me if government decided that the recess needs to be extended for another few weeks, which they could easily get through parliament even if they had to. Parliament not sitting, little scrutiny. Questions at the briefings are irregularly answered by politicians.

That said, I thought 2010 was a good election to lose, so what do I know!
I think it was. The mistake was to elect Ed Milliband as leader. They needed an experienced leader (perhaps for a few years), a good parliamentary performer to give Cameron a hard time while the 'young guns' who contested the leadership worked on policy. I don't think that Labour were really able to lay sufficient blows on the coalition government. Ed Milliband had only had one year on the front bench, and then not in one of the high profile ministries, insufficient to see if he was likely to be up to the job. Of course, the media did not help.
 

DarloRich

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The incompetent and self indulgent reign of Jeremy Corbyn is over. About time. Labour can start to get back to being a serious political party rather than a group of silly, right on, sub student union SWP activists moaning about things real people don't care about while making off colour statements about Jews. Now to get the Momentum/SWP crackpots out. Hopefully the NEC results will help with this.

Mr Starmer has actually made contact with Boris Johnson already and stated they will put their differences aside while the UK is suffering the Covid19 epidemic which is clearly a sensible move.

That isn't entirely what he said.

All MPs should be putting aside any grievances until all this crisis is over with.

No they shouldn't. They should hold to account the people making the decisions. As should the press. That is their job. Gove, slippery little twerp that he is, made that point this afternoon.

Richard Burgon though.

Hopefully this is the end of clowns like him.

Starmer now needs to persuade some of the those who refused to serve under Corbyn or weren't radical enough for him, to return to the front benches.

That wont be hard. A notepad is more effective than people like Burgon!

We didn't know at Christmas there was going to be a national crisis.

Agreed - however we all know it didn't need 16 weeks to chose a new Labour leader. Anything more than 16 minutes after 11PM on election day should have been too much.

Whether he'll be able to recoup the lost voters it's difficult to say

He will get one back: Mine.
 

DaveHarries

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Although not a voter of either the red or blue side I would have picked Sir Keir if I had been a Labour member. I am glad he won and that we haven't got a Corbynite leading the opposition. However whether he will get my vote in a future election remains to be seen as I am not keen on re nationalisation. I wish him well in his role as leader though.

Dave
 

Cowley

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It should have been a big story in the news had things been different at the moment. The horrible situation that the country finds itself in may help Starmer in that he’s not particularly charismatic, but he is competent, and that’s what’s needed right now.
I’d also say that he’s intelligent and honourable enough to not try too much in the way of political point scoring at the moment, and the spotlight is very much not on him while he finds his feet.

They made the correct choice out of the two thank god.
 

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It wouldn't surprise me if government decided that the recess needs to be extended for another few weeks, which they could easily get through parliament even if they had to. Parliament not sitting, little scrutiny. Questions at the briefings are irregularly answered by politicians.

I think it was. The mistake was to elect Ed Milliband as leader. They needed an experienced leader (perhaps for a few years), a good parliamentary performer to give Cameron a hard time while the 'young guns' who contested the leadership worked on policy. I don't think that Labour were really able to lay sufficient blows on the coalition government. Ed Milliband had only had one year on the front bench, and then not in one of the high profile ministries, insufficient to see if he was likely to be up to the job. Of course, the media did not help.

Eh, like his opponent namely his brother David ?
 

Vespa

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First order of business dump the communist radicalist policies championed by Corbyn and boot out momentum and have clean sweep of the party, build bridges with Jewish people, I would kick out Corbyn, Diane and all his mates out of the labour party, this way the party will have credibility with electorate, with no immediate election, Kier can afford to this when he's got 4 years to get it sorted.

The immediate concern is the Covid-19 crisis will preoccupy the Government, this is Labour's opportunity to be constructive not destructive.
 

Typhoon

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Eh, like his opponent namely his brother David ?
Definitely not, none of the opponents were suitable. An 'old guard' figure, someone like Alan Johnson (I know he didn't want the job but someone like him, who had been round the block a few times), a bruiser who could ask the sort of difficult questions that Cameron couldn't just swat away. Concentrate on attacking the government. To do the job for 3 or 4 years until all of the young guns had shown whether they were up to it and had devised policies for the next election - the problem with 2010 was Labour were running out of ideas, needed a rethink. I heard Margaret Beckett the other day, she still makes good points and commands respect ten years later. OK, David Milliband had been Foreign Secretary but that is no preparation for being Prime Minister these days - he needed experience in a post which was important to the general public - Home Office, Exchequer, say. After 3 or 4 years, policies in place, leader stands down, then we could see which of the young guns was up to it, who had the policies, who was scoring points in the House; some of the contenders had only been in the cabinet for a year.

Tories made the same mistake in 1997, Secretary of State for Wales was no preparation for leadership, they should have given him a decent job to shadow and he'd have given Blair more of a run in 2005.

I cannot understand this 'skip a generation' mentality when a party loses an election. You need someone to steady the boat while you rebuild, that is why I think Starmer is the right man for the job now.
 

Typhoon

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That wont be hard. A notepad is more effective than people like Burgon!
I disagree. Getting rid of the ineffectual, the useless, the one-tracked, will be easy. I would list them but some were so anonymous that I can't remember them.

But finding replacements?

Are the likes of Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn going to step down from their Select Committee roles (where they have significant influence) to become a shadow minister?

Are the new intake any good or are they Momentumites?

And what to do with Rebecca Long Bailey? Shadow Leader of the House? Nothing to do with policy but still in the shadow cabinet. And she would get on just fine with Jacob Rees-Mogg!
 
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