Next Labour leader - Starmer and Rayner win

FlawlessThaw

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Unfortunately I don't agree, I suspect it still plays a factor for many Brits even if they hesitate to admit it.
You’re probably right and I might have just sanitised my comment because @sun_tzu had just accused me of being a racist for thinking some British voters do take into account gender, race, religion etc.
 

Ubik

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Cooper has a majority of 1,000 now, in a seat with a sizeable Brexit party vote that could split in a number of ways in the next election. Less than ideal for a party leader.
 

Smores

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Phillips taking on Boris week on week would certainly be entertaining but I think she'd be a mistake as leader right now. Daily Mail will portray her as shouty remainer feminist and she'll go the way of Swinson.

I see lots of people I'd like in the cabinet but none of them look to be great leaders. Thornberry, Starmer or Rayner perhaps.
 

Redlambs

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Yeah, people really need to stop going on about how the media will see anyone. They are going to do that regardless ffs :lol:

The next leader should be strong enough to at least try to deal with it properly.
 

FlawlessThaw

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Going back to Lammy slightly, London is so far removed from the rest of England in voting patterns it may as well be like comparing it to Scotland.
 

Sweet Square

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What are your initial thoughts?
That hardly anyone seems to understand the reasons why Labour lost and have just resorted to shouting at its each, e.g. this -


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The battering the Labour party took last Thursday can't just be down to - Corbyn popularity ratings being in the tank, Labour stance on Brexit, the failure of centrism or the media bias. The election showed the changing dynamics of both work and the working class in Britain.

This is a very good blog post on the current situation

https://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-working-class-politics-of-brexit.html
 

711

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That hardly anyone seems to understand the reasons why Labour lost and have just resorted to shouting at its each, e.g. this -


-------------------------------------------------------

The battering the Labour party took last Thursday can't just be down to - Corbyn popularity ratings being in the tank, Labour stance on Brexit, the failure of centrism or the media bias. The election showed the changing dynamics of both work and the working class in Britain.

This is a very good blog post on the current situation

https://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-working-class-politics-of-brexit.html
I followed the blog as well as my dumb working class brain would allow, and it concludes with 'Labour made the right choice', which is a bit of a disappointment to be honest.
 

Redlambs

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That hardly anyone seems to understand the reasons why Labour lost and have just resorted to shouting at its each, e.g. this -


-------------------------------------------------------

The battering the Labour party took last Thursday can't just be down to - Corbyn popularity ratings being in the tank, Labour stance on Brexit, the failure of centrism or the media bias. The election showed the changing dynamics of both work and the working class in Britain.

This is a very good blog post on the current situation

https://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-working-class-politics-of-brexit.html
I followed the blog as well as my dumb working class brain would allow, and it concludes with 'Labour made the right choice', which is a bit of a disappointment to be honest.
Hmmm, I've read it twice and will read it again when I've digested it more. A couple of things I'm not sure about though are the "and the alleged "confusion" about Labour's position" on brexit before they stated their plan for a 2nd ref (as if there wasn't any confusion???), Blue Labour comment, and the way it rightly talks so much about brexit, yet ends with Labour did the right thing throughout.

I'm not convinced it's actually telling us much we don't know, but perhaps that's my small brain at work there.
 

Raven

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That doesn't change the fact they could be much better though, no?
Could they? I mean, when you're being asked questions like "will you nationalise sausages" or "will you apologise for antisemitism" (which you're innocent of) every time you sit down to discuss the future of the country, how are you supposed to cut through the bullshit?

I would personally be quite aggressive with interviewer and probably alienate half the population. How do you suggest the new leader combats the media?
 

Redlambs

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Could they? I mean, when you're being asked questions like "will you nationalise sausages" or "will you apologise for antisemitism" (which you're innocent of) every time you sit down to discuss the future of the country, how are you supposed to cut through the bullshit?

I would personally be quite aggressive with interviewer and probably alienate half the population. How do you suggest the new leader combats the media?
Don't fall into the trap of thinking someone with an opinion must surely have all the answers. I'm not paid to do that, nor am I a member of the party and how they are run. Nor am I surrounded by people who are supposed to manage my image and know how to deal with this stuff.

What I do think though, is you don't endlessly sit there and take it. At very least you don't look exactly like the "media lies" like being weak when faced with the opposition and refusing to even call them out. I also think you don't use this stuff as an excuse when you have strategists around you who know what questions are going to be asked, and what the pressure points will be.

It's so defeatist to just shrug your shoulders and accept what's happening.
 

Dante

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Labour have to go down the populist route if they want to have any hope of success in the social media era.

If you swapped Johnson's personality for Corbyn's, Labour would be in power.
 

Sweet Square

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I followed the blog as well as my dumb working class brain would allow, and it concludes with 'Labour made the right choice', which is a bit of a disappointment to be honest.
?

Hmmm, I've read it twice and will read it again when I've digested it more. A couple of things I'm not sure about though are the "and the alleged "confusion" about Labour's position" on brexit before they stated their plan for a 2nd ref (as if there wasn't any confusion???), Blue Labour comment, and the way it rightly talks so much about brexit, yet ends with Labour did the right thing throughout.
I'm pretty sure the Blue Labour comment is referencing a part of the party which is working class conservatism, so couple of examples could be funding the NHS but making sure only British citizens can use it(Really playing into health tourism shtick) or
Their prescription that we can win back these people by putting the Union Jack on our leaflets and being a little bit racist.
Edit -


As for brexit the blog comes to the conclusion that Labour position on Brexit was the only viable option for them and that any other option would have destroyed the labour base.

I'm not convinced it's actually telling us much we don't know,
I thought this part was interesting and something that's rarely talked about.
In truth, this part of the working class itself is in decline. The retirees, who comprise the bulk of the new Tory support, did jobs in their working lives that either do not exist any more, are in sharp decline, or have been transformed utterly. You go after this declining demographic if you want. Many Labour MPs did on a ad hoc basis over the last few years, and now their political careers repose in freshly dug graves.

As I've argued before, Corbynism is the first mass expression in English and Welsh politics of a new working class. Its features are the immaterial character of its labour, that is it produces knowledge, services, care, relationships, and subjectivities/identities, and it depends on our social capacities and competencies as social beings - skills that can only be parasited off but not directly possessed by capital (more here and here). Acknowledging immaterial labour is not the same as the old embourgeoisement thesis, nor is it about glamourising this kind of work. The typical socialised worker is your care home worker or call centre employee, not relatively privileged programmers or university lecturers. In fact, you are very likely to find millions of the former distributed right across the working class constituencies the Tories won but, for a number of reasons, are not as politically engaged as the huge concentrations you can find in the big cities. By virtue of their work they are much more likely to be socially liberal than older workers, which lends itself to a spontaneous liberal internationalism (and therefore greater receptivity about the EU) and, thanks to how the Tories have barred millions from the housing ladder and frustrate attempts at building stable lives, are largely anti-Conservative. Yes, anti-Tory but not spontaneously pro-Labour. As a new working class in historical terms, their relationship to politics is different and their allegiance has to be earned. The younger you are, the greater the chances you are part
 
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Penna

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Whilst I do agree with you for a lot of people and their ridiculous bias, it's still what YOU have said. So quoting yourself is a little odd.

I don't think Corbyn's problem was his age or beard. If people want to use those as more excuses, then fine so be it, but there are far bigger reasons they lost. After all, Swinson got beat and she's hardly falling foul of your appearance rules.
I don't care what the next Labour leader looks like, I'll still vote Labour. My comment was tongue-in-cheek, but there's loads of evidence that people take it into account.
 

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Jesus God what a thought. No way she's got what it takes to be leader. The thought of her addressing PMQs or representing the party on the politics programmes is mind-blowing.
On reflection you're not wrong. She's a good MP and potential Minister, but she'd be out of her depth as leader. She doesn't have the intellect or gravitas to share a world stage with the likes of Merkel, Trudeau, et al.

I think Starmer is probably the best choice in the long run. He'd have a few years to hone his style and figure out how to appeal to the masses. He has a calm authority about him, is clearly very smart and principled, pragmatic and not too 'loony'.
 

langster

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I don't think it matters who Labour pick atm. They could have Brad Pitt as their leader and nobody would notice nor care.

Their message wasn't wrong, their leader was hated universally. He didn't deserve it and yet he took it well for his party. However he wasn't the right man, if he was he would have been elected. He wasnt. Now labour have to regroup and find someone who could be elected. Someone who reaches and connects with the voters and someone brave enough to stand up to the right wing propaganda machine they will face.

I don't care how long it takes, more how it's the right choice. Otherwise we will be here again in 5 years time.
 

jeff_goldblum

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This Blue Labour shit can get to feck. I prefer my socialism without a side order of nationalism (or 'cultural conservatism' as they're calling it. The left wing and the centre need to put their differences aside and shut this out.
 

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Jess Philips... You lot are considering Jess fecking Philips!? She's the labour version of Mark Francois. Ultra reactionary and actually has no shame in saying that she hates the tories. Great choice. Angela Rayner is intellectually deficient and can't even be considered.
 

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Can't be Rebecca Long-Bailey either. She's got a double barreled name (Tory) and her mouth is so very tiny, like a third of the radius of a normal mouth.
 

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Jess Philips... You lot are considering Jess fecking Philips!? She's the labour version of Mark Francois. Ultra reactionary and actually has no shame in saying that she hates the tories. Great choice. Angela Rayner is intellectually deficient and can't even be considered.
Intellectually deficient is a pretty poor way to frame it. That said, I'm sceptical she has what it takes to deal with the rigours of an election, you can't have performances like this, no matter how much you like her back story.

 

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Am I actually seeing Emily Thornberry touted for the leadership in this thread too? I'm sure she will win back the votes of the working class in the North and Midlands.... She's a fecking disaster.
 

Ubik

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Am I actually seeing Emily Thornberry touted for the leadership in this thread too? I'm sure she will win back the votes of the working class in the North and Midlands.... She's a fecking disaster.
Any names that you do like?
 

sun_tzu

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Sturgeon is leader of the SNP.
Indeed but I thought in the rules of the labour party it had to be an mp at Westminster... It's quite logical that the SNP wouldn't have that rule as they want independence and have the Scottish assembly as well

I thought that was why David milliband couldn't stand before... He was off running Thunderbirds and therefore not an mp
 
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P-Ro

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Any names that you do like?
Anyone who will ensure continued electoral oblivion. Unless there's an unknown MP lurking in the grass I haven't seen I can't see any hope for the left wing disease.