Why has a woman never led the Labour Party?

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.

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

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

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,

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).

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

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

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 .

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 .

Oops strong woman.

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.

I admire the SNP's Mhairi Black enormously and believe that she could teach Labour women a thing or two and then go on to wipe the floor with Mrs May.

Please!

I agree with Jaycee5, my understanding was that Hariet Harman chose not to stand after Ed Milliband resigned, despite being asked by many people. She would, I’m sure, have been very good as leader and possibly as Prime Minister. And yes, she may well now be regretting not standing.

I went to the hustings where the five Labour leadership contenders spoke when Jeremy Corbyn stood. Yvette Cooper was impressive but, sadly, possibly linked too closely with her husband, Ed Balls, who had just lost his seat.

Tessa Jowell was always a wonderful people person and very, very effective as a Minister. I don’t recall her ever wanting to stand as leader. She will be greatly missed.

?

Anniebach She can't be forced to be permanent leader. She didn't want the job.

Harriet has been an MP for 36 years, been deputy leader and acting leader, that is experience

Harriet Harman was repeatedly asked to stand for the leadership role and always refused. She has recently said that maybe she made a mistake not to stand when first asked.

The best candidate will not win, the preferred choice of the unions and Momentum will win,

Trisher, you bring up the 22 committee, they are MP’s Labour MP’s have little or no say in selecting the leader now.

If labour MP’s had the most say in the 2015 leadership contest Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper would now be leader.