Following the general election débacle, what’s next for the Labour party? They need a new leader, obviously, and if any sense is brought to bear this will happen sooner and not later (in other words, Corbyn sitting around for a couple of months or whatever for no clear purpose shouldn’t happen).
But who should the new leader be? And is it just the leader that should change? There will, naturally, be any number of people holding forth on these very questions and many others, each and every one with their own particular take on it.
Rather than be one of those people, for the time being at least, I’ll content myself with posting a link to an article by Gary Younge that I says a lot of what I think. Beyond that, I reckon the next Labour leader should be either Angela Rayner or Rebecca Long-Bailey.
I heard her on the radio one morning during the election campaign and thought she came across really well. Gave excellent answers to the usual toxic questions about immigration, as I recall. But with no seat she’s not around to stand, or else I’d have mentioned her as a contender.
I saw her recently at a rally and thought she was great but some would see her as too left as it was said she was being prepped for future leadership by the Corbyn set.
I also agree with you on Angela Rayner or Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Not sure a London based Labour leader would help at the moment.
I hope they don’t assume that Corbyns policies lost them the election, while overlooking the fact that his perceived muddled stance on brexit was the actual culprit. I’ve spoken to loads of people who liked his policies, many of them people you wouldn’t expect to sympathise with socialism/nationalisation policies at all. I think he was taking the party in very much the right direction, but shot himself in the foot with a brexit-shaped 12-bore
Corbyn has been an MP for decades. Some troubled decades. Basically, almost every political cause he was involved in back in the 1980s is the fuel for a Tory attack line.
A leader without that baggage might not have the same problems, even if he or she put forward a similar policy platform.
Momentum drove the party left or far left so they have to take some of the blame, the policies were sound but no one believed them quite obviously, we need a totem to rally around and Diane Abbot, McDonnell and Corbyn were never going to be it as people want personalities knocking kids over playing rugby and generally looking a twat (Abbot does fall into this category mind).
Momentum needs to be reigned in and we need to have a more expansive (note expansive not move to) view towards the centre ground, without the centre ie Middle England we’re going nowhere no matter how good the policies are.
Those policies can and should only come from a few people and then pushed out via consensus not the other way round, this was a momentum led campaign that had good policies but no one liked the movement bar themselves, too many cooks etc etc.
Decisive policy on the EU, stay in or campaign to rejoin.
Decisive policy on nuclear arms.
Decisive policy on immigration and the right to remain.
Decisive policy on tax.
The future of the party starts now, we need a coffee shop moment ie Blair and Brown.
Just who’ll be in that coffee shop depends on the future of our party.
I think the question is more existential in the short term
Does Labour have a right to exist? Is there a need, right now, for a Labour party?
The size of the Tory majority means that Labour has time to regroup. Labour has been divided for so long now that it probably needs to split in the short term.
Then it’s a matter of waiting for the Conservatives to palpably renege on their promises and cause greater suffering.
Labour, or whatever the fragmented opposition parties are at that time then need to be ready to unite and cooperate to get into coalition power.
To gain Northern Labour back, the Southern Labour block has to accept they’ve taken the Northern block for granted for generations and have to address their concerns over immigration, integration, jobs, houses and education.
If they pass them off as racist and backward Labour will never get into power.
Metropolitan Labour is only a part of the Labour Party not the whole bit, not by a long chalk.
Over the past couple of years, I have increasingly been a fan of Maurice Glasman and Blue Labour. I think his ideas, also extolled by the likes of Paul Embery, about having Labour re-orient to focus on families and empowered local communities are the sort of things that people will actually go for.
The party is really not going to be survived by a Blairite revival. It was the influence of centrist politicians on Labour’s Brexit policy which ultimately did for the party in the polls. The last thing that Labour needs next election is Lady Thornberry sneering about their devilish working class ways.
The movement also needs to change. The campaigning styles that have been used to advance political causes have been completely counter-productive. It is not enough to point out that Jacob Rees-Mogg is going to earn a ton of money. The Boris-bashing by certain elements of the left was also counter-productive, painting a picture of such a hideous ogre that even he could beat the rap on.