Labour Leadership Contest

**spireitematt** · 03-01-2020, 23:26

So far the candidates who have put themselves forward are:

Keir Starmer
Clive Lewis
Emily Thornberry
Jess Phillips

Talk of Ian Lavery thinking about entering the race but Rebecca Long-Bailey who is popular with the Corbynistas hasn't declared yet that she is standing. Lisa Nandy is expected to announce soon that she's standing.

0762 · (This post was last modified: 04-01-2020, 00:39 by 0762.)

I thought the Labour MP, Neil Coyle, made a damning comment that the Labour Party is in the worst shape in over a hundred years and changing the "captain of the Titanic" just isn't enough anyway! IMO realistically they need someone like a Blair or Macron type of leader who can "charm" the middle ground of the political electorate. However, I don't think that would go down very well with the party membership. I personally regard Blair and Macron as smarmy con men with their own selfish agenda to satisfy their needs. The current scumbag PM, Johnson, is paradoxically worse than either of these political misfits and yet attractive enough to be "given the nod" by a big chunk of the Brexit-obsessed English electorate!! Thumb down

Absolutely nuts and the future does not look "rosy" at all with this kinda RW politic and attitude "coming to the fore" and alongside other global RW bampots!

hibeejim21 · 04-01-2020, 01:54

Labours problem is the same as it was towards the end of new labour. They have 2 large sections of their support who want completely different things. Who can reconcile that ?

There are problems with starmer - he's a bit too dry, probably too London and remain for the English heartland seats......yet he ticks most of the other boxes.

Brexit is going to be a shitshow, so having someone as knowledgable on the subject as Keir can be a huge asset to labour going forward.

If he can get the unions and PLP onside, he'd be a strong candidate, a real standout in terms of credibility.

**spireitematt** · 05-01-2020, 00:55

Lisa Nandy announced her bid today and Keir Starmer has official started his campaign.

David Lammy has ruled himself out.

As a Labour member myself the only candidate who stands out the moment is Keir Starmer. The one I would have liked would have been Caroline Flint but she unfortunately lost her seat.

**Ska'dForLife-WBA** · 05-01-2020, 09:05

(05-01-2020, 00:55)spireitematt Wrote: The one I would have liked would have been Caroline Flint but she unfortunately lost her seat.

Flint and Anna Turley are just two of the solid Labour MPs who lost their seats thanks to the rank arseholery of Corbyn. And yet a waste of oxygen like Richard Burgon lives to snivel another day. At this point, I'm sorry to say, the party's beyond saving.

hibeejim21 · 05-01-2020, 10:56

What was "solid" about Caroline flint? My abiding memory of her is doing that stupid dance with portillo and Andrew Neill on this week.

The notion of her leading labour is pretty out there...not that the membership would vote for her in a million years.

**Lord Snooty** · (This post was last modified: 05-01-2020, 11:49 by Lord Snooty.)

It doesn't matter who the next leader is. We have zero chance of winning the next election. Might as well keep Jeremy on for another couple of years during the transition period. None of the candidates could lead a successful campaign.
We need someone with a personality that can get the message across. A comedian. Play Johnson at his own game. A personality who has been in the media spotlight for years. But most importantly, someone who can unite the party. None of the current candidates can do that.

And the only way then that that candidate will ever become PM is if Brexit goes spectacularly badly and gets in on the "told you so" ticket.

**spireitematt** · (This post was last modified: 05-01-2020, 23:49 by spireitematt.)

(05-01-2020, 10:56)hibeejim21 Wrote: What was "solid" about Caroline flint? My abiding memory of her is doing that stupid dance with portillo and Andrew Neill on this week.

The notion of her leading labour is pretty out there...not that the membership would vote for her in a million years.

Because she understood the electorate and understood why people voted Leave in the Referendum, she also warned Labour about a 2nd referendum stance yet she was ignored and look what happened.

The Momentum and the Corbynista's wouldn't vote for her no but other members would have. The Labour Party is currently being held to ransom by Momentum and the next leader will be someone who is close to Corbyn and that is likely to be Rebecca Long-Bailey if she stands or Emily Thornberry.

(05-01-2020, 11:37)Lord Snooty Wrote: It doesn't matter who the next leader is. We have zero chance of winning the next election. Might as well keep Jeremy on for another couple of years during the transition period. None of the candidates could lead a successful campaign.
We need someone with a personality that can get the message across. A comedian. Play Johnson at his own game. A personality who has been in the media spotlight for years. But most importantly, someone who can unite the party. None of the current candidates can do that.

And the only way then that that candidate will ever become PM is if Brexit goes spectacularly badly and gets in on the "told you so" ticket.

Labour won't be able to overturn that majority unless something happens in the next 4-5 years. Best Labour can do at the next election is a hung parliament.

0762 · (This post was last modified: 06-01-2020, 01:00 by 0762.)

The key word is "events", negative ones, and waiting for all the false promises, and other consequential horrible events to unfold, but it will unfortunately take time and IMO there is no satisfaction in seeing the country formally leaving the EU and watching everything inevitably going "tits up" and then telling all those "stoopid voters" I TOLD YOU SO!! It will be too late by then and then we are back to the old "looped political merry go round" again where the next favoured political party likely "picks up the pieces" and tries to sort out the mess!! Deja vu, particularly for many veteran members and others of a similar ilk who have cynically observed these diametrically opposite political ideologies for years and the fact that they don't f###### well work!!

**spireitematt** · 06-01-2020, 01:17

(06-01-2020, 00:59)0762 Wrote: The key word is "events", negative ones, and waiting for all the false promises, and other consequential horrible events to unfold, but it will unfortunately take time and IMO there is no satisfaction in seeing the country formally leaving the EU and watching everything inevitably going "tits up" and then telling all those "stoopid voters" I TOLD YOU SO!! It will be too late by then and then we are back to the old "looped political merry go round" again where the next favoured political party likely "picks up the pieces" and tries to sort out the mess!! Deja vu, particularly for many veteran members and others of a similar ilk who have cynically observed these diametrically opposite political ideologies for years and the fact that they don't f###### well work!!

Calling voters 'stupid' because they voted differently to you in the referendum or the General Election isn't going to get them to come round to your way of thinking. You have to use arguments and you have to speak and debate people.

If there was a real Brexit plan and there were proper contingency plans in place then Brexit could work but this Brexit which the Conservatives and Johnson is proposing is going to go down like a lead balloon. People seem to think that when the 31st January happens then that's it and we've left the EU, I don't think people realise we will be in the EU for at least another 2 years in a transition period and possibly in trade talks for several years to come.