Sensible discussion on Labour Leadership hopefuls

Charisma might be overrated for people who are engaged but is important for the rest of the population.

I've not heard that anyone has declared yet but a few are 'thinking about it's - presumably to judge support.

Kier Starmer would get my vote. Wonder why Harriet Harman isn't in the running? She seems to be keeping a very low profile. When we had the last leadership contest I thought Chuka Umunna had charisma in spades, but unfortunately, we all know what happened to him!

No one has said they will stand .

Yet not year.

There isn’t a final list year, some are still thinking. It’s clear so far that Kier Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey are standing.

Not a sweeping statement

Have we a list of those who will say they will stand? Not just those who are thinking about it. I would appreciate that.

Sweeping statements not acceptable. Please justify your post Annie.

Kier Starmer not likely to be backed by McCluskey you must know if you’ve read the literature.

growstuff please don’t look back but forwards

Party members, Momentum members and Unions will vote.

So Yvette Cooper , Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips are out.

Probably it will be between Stammer and Long Bailey.

If they do elect somebody in Corbyn's image, they can forget about forming a government for the foreseeable future.

By the 2029 election, Corbyn will be history. There will be a whole new generation of voters, who will never have known anything except a Conservative government. Who knows how they'll vote?

Attlee was an Oxford-educated barrister, who had a reputation for lacking charisma, being indecisive and uninspiring. Churchill allegedly said of him “He has much to be modest about”.

I think charisma is overrated.

I think it will be good to have the interregnum while everyone decides if they are going to stand. We can then hear what they have to say.

I believe there is some talk about who will actually be able to vote too but no doubt we will hear shortly.

As for people using a thread-like this as an anti whichever part of Labour they don't approve of, it's just not helpful. Let's find out what the candidates are standing for and then we will be able to discuss positively. We have had 10 years of negativity; personally I don't need those people or their conversations in my life.

I assume this is where you got the info from Yehbutnobut? It's a good article.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/17/keir-starmer-labour-leadership-pitch-radical-government

As a Tory voter, I am interested in who leads the LP because we need a credible opposition.

It seems obvious to me that it needs to be someone who is more centre left than extreme left. I like Keir Starmer a lot but he doesnt have enough charisma imo. Much as I like Yvette Cooper, nor does she.

It is a huge worry that Jeremy Corbyn is trying to keep the party on the same path that lost them the election.

So, maybe a new Centrist party will emerge.

What has to be remembered that it will be not only Labour party members that vote in any leadership election which are approximately four hundred thousand in number. There are also the affiliated trade union members (those union members who pay the political Levy) and there are approximately five million of them.

Not a high percentage of those members vote but those that do are strong activists in that movement and those were the people who very much got behind Corbyn in the last two leadership elections and gave him the huge victories he obtained.

They will be looking for someone in Corbyns image whenever this election takes place.

Yehbutnobut Yes, I've heard that there's been a surge in new members.

I said from those interested but most of all calling for a rational and sensible discussion. That isn’t just throwing out names but justifying your choice and it certainly isn’t inviting mud-throwing but rather a logical reason if there is a candidate you’d rather not support.

Are you asking only for contributions on here from Labour voters yeahbut..... because I would say we are all interested in the direction that the LP now goes in.
Keir Starmer would be probably the best candidate from the present shadow cabinet, but there are others who are back benchers like Yvette Cooper who would be very good and have plenty of political experience.
The important lesson for the LP membership to learn is that very left wing candidates in the Corbyn mould won’t make Labour an electable Party for the future.

Incidentally, all this is purely rhetorical unless you are a member of the LP and therefore eligible to vote. So many of my family and friends have joined since the election already. Cheap and easy on line.

#justsaying

Good point about ‘working class lad made good’ his father was a tool maker.

I also am warming to Starmer. Is he charismatic?

For me, Starmer would be the only sensible choice.

In some ways, Labour could benefit from Brexit because it's a "done deed" and Labour will have one fewer issues to tear it apart. Nevertheless, the steps along the way need to be scrutinised and, if necessary, challenged to make sure the country does get a Brexit which benefits the majority. I think Starmer is capable of doing that.

Although he has an image of being an Islington lawyer, he's actually a "working class" lad made good.

Whoever is eventually selected, the first priority must be to listen. I'm not advocating a populist agenda of anti-immigration, being draconian on crime etc, but the real issues people have need to be addressed and not dismissed as bigotry and stupidity.

PS. In my opinion, the other contenders would be a disaster for Labour and, therefore, the country.