Why has a woman never led the Labour Party?

I would have loved Harriet Harmon to have been PM. Don’t know much about Jeremy Corbins lot. So seem ok others not sure. Always thought Mrs. Brown should have been in politics she quietly gets on with things I like that.
My feelings toward Mrs May are not good, don’t trust or believe in what she’s says. Especially ‘we are all in this together’ really where. Not sure if Labour has any strong now.

Oops strong woman.

Jaycee, I didn’t say .harriet should be leader or forced to be leader,just saying she is one of many on the back benches who has experience . As does Margaret Beckett, the first woman in parliment to hold the post of foreign secretary .

There are no strong women in the shadow cabinet now, most came into parliment in 2015.

Just because they came into parliament in 2015 does not mean they are not strong. I sometimes think having less experience in parliament can make a better M.P. They will be less afraid of losing their job because it is not so long ago that they were doing another job, so would not be so afraid to leave parliament and do something else, so may be more likely to speak their mind. Like Mairi Black in the SNP.

Just because a woman is relatively young and inexperienced does not mean she is not a strong woman.

Unlike the USA you do not need money to stand as leader of your party and it is totally ridiculous to imply Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May only got there by having rich husbands. They became leaders on merit and the backing of the party and its members by votes.

Two years as an MP is not enough experience to be PM surely , big difference between sitting on the shadow front bench and being on the world stage , experience is of importance in my opinion

Topcat7 Dennis paid for Margaret's barrister training that must have helped surely?

I think it was me who first mentioned financial reasons. What I meant was that because the LP is mainly supported financially by the Unions, which tend to be (?) mysogynistic, the choice for leader is usually a man.
I know there is a huge discrepancy between the amount of financial backing for the 2 major parties.

Thatcher definately targeted Dennis and his millions , she was involved with a chap she thought a lot of then met Dennis who impressed her with his two cars. May have read this in her memoirs , not sure.

then met Dennis who impressed her with his two cars.
I was very impressed by someone I met who had a sports car but then it broke down and he couldn't afford to fix it. Who knows, if he had hd another car as well, I could have been PM!

there has of course been a woman leader of the Scottish Labour party ...at the same time as a woman leader of the Scottish conservatives and the SNP .With 4 of 6 party leaders also being openly gay .No doubt it doesn't count as its the branch office not the REAL party...lol.I didn't have a great opinion of Kezia but she was always honest that politics would be a short term job and she wanted to bedoing something better in her 40's .I'm sure she had very proud AND disappointed parents though as her family is SNP .

Perhaps they are a bit more enlightened north of the border!

Jalima, I dated someone with a sports car who was the brother of a Tory MP

In my opinion, both Thatcher and May got to be leader by repressing their female-ness. No, I don't mean femininity, I mean those traits that most expect mothers to have, but maybe are not so expected in fathers. Look at how both of them have taken advantages away from children, milk (Thatcher) and free school meals (May) or destroyed families' lives (mass unemployment due to loss of heavy industry and Windrush respectively). Tessa Jowell said her greatest achievement was Sure Start (Tories admit 500 have gone, but it's thought neaere 1000 have been dismantled).

I don’t expect a leader to demonstrate their femaleness or maleness, and Tessa was not a a leader, she was a member of the cabinet,

Hm999 my late mother used to say that there wouldn't be as many wars or as much poverty if a woman was in power..I'm afraid she was very disappointed by the sainted Margaret .....in my opinion both Maggie and Teresa dont have a "normal" female attitude to things especially pverty and childrens matters .Of course we all know that to reach the top women have to show they can beat the men at their own game and work at least twice as hard to get there .Maybe thats why theres a lack of female leaders in England and Wales.For most women the family has to come first before the career

If you read Harriet Harmens biography she explains the difficulties she had in this area.

I think you are right paddyann but I would not confine your comments to England and Wales. None of the prominent female politicians in Scotland - Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale or Ruth Davidson (so far) are mothers.

Quote anniebach today (14/05/18 @ 10:07) [ Oh dear, support for Jennie Formby of UNITE from a union bloke] End Quote

Anniebach as you seem continually to talk of respect on this forum, do you then believe that it is correct to address me as a "union bloke"

Your above Quote came in response to myself informing you and others that Jon Lansmans and Len McCluskey did not "run" the Labour party as you have stated in your post today @ 09:24. The two above persons are members of Labours National Executive Committee on which there are approximately thirty six other members attending each meeting with equal voting status.

In the above it is that Executive which is in place to oversee policies set out and agreed by the Labour Party annual conference.

Therefore anniebach, along with your disrespect (I can think of other words) towards other members of this forum, you seem to have little if any true grasp of the working structures of a political party you "claim" to have been a member and subscriber to for fifty years.

And following on my previous posts, if not for the Unions we would have no 'opposition' to Tory rule.
However divided and weak it might be at the moment.

Fennel, you don’t see the Labour shadow cabinet led by Corbyn as oposition to the Tory government ? I don’t

That's why I put ' 's around opposition Annie.
But who can provide an effective opposition to the entrenched Tory stranglehold on this country's political system?
They've held the majority for most of the last 200+ years, with only a few breaks eg post war, Blair's compromise etc.

Very true statement in your posting today @ 17:05 Fennel. It is being stated by some in this thread that there are no strong women in the Labour party and that the unions are male dominated.

How then do those stating the above give justification to yhe fact that Jennie Formby became a very senior organiser at national level within the Unite union, and has now been elected to what many see as the most prominent leadership position in the Labour movement as it's General Secretary.

Perhaps they will put that down to her weakness.

Fennel, democracy, the tories are voted into power