After a tense few hours of Labour’s National Executive Committee meeting yesterday, the party’s ruling body decided by 18 votes to 14 that Jeremy Corbyn would have an automatic right to be on the ballot in the leadership election against Angela Eagle. It was the result that many, including some anti-Corbyn voices, had argued for, the result that most of the party’s legal advice supported, and the result that any common sense reading of the rulebook would dictate. Continue reading
A successful coup usually requires two things: an acceptable leader-in-waiting, and a delegitimisation of the current leadership. While the PLP have only finally agreed on the former, the latter has been underway for some time.
The latest delegitimisation of Corbyn’s position, and an attempt to legitimise the coup, is to claim the rulebook shows he will not make the ballot. It is expected among some the NEC will meet on Tuesday to deliberate the point, though this has yet to be confirmed. Continue reading
A YouGov poll whose findings are published today by the Times shows that the membership of the Labour Party are more supportive of Jeremy Corbyn now than they were in November 2015 and there is no realistic chance of him being removed now or in the foreseeable future. It is time for all his critics to decide, do they want to see him elected Prime Minister or not?
Seventy-two percent of Labour members think Corbyn is doing well as party leader (compared with 66% last November) including 43% of those who voted for Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham last summer. A majority of members think we’re on course to win in 2020 , and more so with Jeremy as leader than someone else (53:39 compared with 42:41). Continue reading
Socialists don’t normally go in for miracles. Yet the way some people have reacted to the incredible success of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, you’d think we’d witnessed some sort of supernatural event. How on earth did Jeremy go from rank outsider in June to a landslide winner just three months later in September? Of course, with time, people will analyse the ‘perfect storm’ which has propelled Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the party, and conclude (quite rightly) that the factors were complex and varied. But one element which has had little coverage so far, but will in my view stand out when people have the time to reflect, is the unprecedented social media campaign – the biggest such operation for a single politician this country has ever seen. I’m not about to declare that it was ‘Twitter wot won it’, but it was certainly a central factor. Continue reading
At last, the curtain falls on the Labour leadership contest. Amid claims of infiltration andballots not turning up, the most tumultuous leadership election in the party’s history ends with the rank outsider the likely winner, and a membership in equal parts enthused, stunned, and resigned to a most unexpected fate. The result is due on Saturday, but now seems about the right time to cast an eye over the campaigns.
Liz Kendall was the first out of the gate. On the Sunday following the election, she appeared on the Sunday Politics and told Brillo of her intention to run. She made the noises that defined the the early moments of the Labour leadership contest. You know the record, it has had repeat play on Radio Kendall ever since. We were insufficiently pro-business, we weren’t trusted with the public monies, and we need public sector reform went the oh-so familiar lyrics. With four people trying to occupy this ground – Chuka, Tristram, and Mary – it was Liz’s early start that defined the Progress pitch and helped hoover up the limited number of singly unfit for the role. Continue reading
