2019 was a decisive year for Labour, one they lost in a landslide to the Conservatives during the General Election. Due to this, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that he would step down as the Labour Party leader.
This has caused the party to go into a leadership debate, so who is up for the role of becoming the next Labour Party leader?
Jeremy Corbyn was only made the party leader in 2015, after the resignation of Ed Milliband, which itself was a divisive leadership battle.
Who are the candidates for the next Labour Party Leader?
This time round, there are far more women running for the job of top dog in the Labour Party- four to one to be exact.
Sir Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer, or as he would rather you called him, Keir Starmer, is very much a traditionalist. He wants to take the Labour Party he saw and voted for, when he was younger.
In his candidate statement (which can be found on the Labour Party website), it states:
“We need to start winning elections again – starting with the local elections in May, building to 2024. We won’t do that by abandoning our values or the radicalism we have rediscovered.”
Just like Corbyn, he wants to focus on reducing the inequality in society. He wants to focus mainly on the inequalities in “Power, education, health and wealth.”
Keir Starmer has the backing of several high-ranking Labour Party members such as Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper and Alex Cunningham.
Emily Thornberry
Emily Thornberry is very different from Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer in many ways. Rather than looking to the future, and the elections that lie there, she is focusing on fixing the current split in the Labour Party.
In her candidate statement, she talks quite a lot about the good that there is. The good that she has done, and the good a united Labour party can do.
In her candidate statement, she was also brave enough to take a hit at Boris Johnson, saying “[…] shadowing Boris Johnson, I got the better of him every time.”
Emily Thornberry too has the backing of many senior Labour Party memebers, including: Nadia Whittome, Meg Hillier and Nia Griffith.
Lisa Nandy
Lisa Nandy is a mixture of Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry. She is both looking looking to united the Labour Party, whilst acknowledging a new style of leadership in necessary.
Her candidate statement ends on a rather dramatic note: “The road will be steep but it doesn’t have to be long. We win together.”
If Lisa Nandy is elected as the next Labour Party leader, she vows to get Labour back into government, come the next election.
Lisa Nandy too has the support of some senior Labour Party members, including: Jon Ashworth, Stephanie Peacock and Graham Stringer.
Jess Phillips
Jess Phillips is probably the main one (alongside Keir Starmer) that you have heard of, this is because of their high media presence, both good and bad.
Jess Phillips just today was quoted by the Guardian as saying that she vows to stop acting ‘statesmanlike’.
She has also been commended, not for standing up for women’s rights or something similar, but for having the audacity to mock both Corbyn and Boris Johnson in the same sentence. Mainy, the statement in her candidate statement of:
“I can win back trust because I am actually honest.” Which is a dig at Corbyn as many people have said that he appears less than truthful most of the time. It is also a dig at Boris Johnson, as he is often quoted as not being particularly truthful most of the time.
She is currently supported for being the next Labour Party leader by: Chris Bryant, Liam Byrne and Rachel Reeves.
Rebecca Long-Bailey
Rebecca Long-Bailey is not as well known, yet is commonly touted for it to go down to her and Keir Starmer. Rebecca Long-Bailey is, like most Labour supporters, devastated by the drastic Labour loss.
In her candidate statement, Rebecca Long-Bailey focuses on three main points: inequality, the socialist future and uniting the Labour Party by becoming the next Labour Party leader.
Her main point, however, is gaining back trust in the party. In her candidate statement, she addresses the reasons why Labour lost the election: a lack of trust in Labour, due to Brexit, anti-semitism and the division in the party.
She is supported by a large part of the Labour top-brass, including: Diane Abbott, Andy McDonald, John McDonnell and Angela Rayner.
Who will become the next Labour Party leader?
The odds are that it will come down to Rebecca Long-Bailey and Keir Starmer.
So this begs the question, which one will it be?
I would expect that Rebecca Long-Bailey will become the next Labour Party Leader.
Whilst I would love Sir Keir to be the next Labour Party leader, as I admire his resolve to keep the Labour Party as it was (whilst smoothing out its roughest edges), I just don’t believe he can do it.
This is because he simply doesn’t have the support from inside the Labour Party- even though opinion polls suggest that he is more preferred by the public (due to his leftist-conservatism).
I expect that Jess Phillips will drop out from the race at any point, due to her disastrous start of the campaign- something that historically signified the end of a run for party leadership (at least that time round).
I highly doubt that either Lisa Nandy or Emily Thornberry have a possibility of winning, because no one knows who they are! Unlike Rebecca Long-Bailey or Keir Starmer, Nandy and Thornberry have not used the media to get their message across.
Or, if they have, Long-Bailey’s and Starmer’s have simply drowned it out with their intensity.
I believe that Rebecca Long-Bailey will be the next Labour Party leader because of the unrivaled support she has from the Labour top-brass. Four of Labour’s top ministers support her, that sends strong signals to other members: she is the one to lead them.
She currently seems to be the only thing that some of the Labour top-brass can agree on (that and how bad the Conservatives are in their eyes).
Who do you believe will be the next Labour Party leader? Tell me in the comments!