New Labour LEADER

Anneliese Dodds - shadow chancellor.

Perhaps I am wrong and the North will welcome him with open arms

Well, 'the North' seemed to like Tony Blair pretty well..

I think 'the North' rather likes an 'establishment' figure. I think (as an incomer who's only lived here for 30+ years) that 'the North' is rather (small 'c') conservative. I suspect they'll be fine with Starmer.

I'm still inclined to think that, as most councils in our area were Labour controlled, Labour got the brunt of peoples' frustration with reduced local services. (The reductions being the product of tory cuts, of course).

I don't think that Starmer will be the " people pleaser " that Corbyn was, but we'll see.
I think he'll sling out those who lean towards the hard-left of the party, will be interesting in the coming weeks.

Callistemon they didn't put their prejudices aside at the last election why should they at the next?
Galaxy actually women membership of unions is rising and they are becoming much more active.
It isn't enough to think that Starmer is the leader you wanted, you still have to consider who will vote for him and why. The GE in 2017 showed the North supported Corbyn, The 2019 election showed they wanted Brexit. Why on earth should those people now turn to Starmer?

It may be rising but it's still a small proportion of the electorate. The point I was making is that trade union legislation is not a driver of peoples voting behaviour.
Starmer isn't necessarily the leader I wanted, he is the best of the candidates, a different thing entirely.
They may turn to Starmer or they may not, depends what he does, they wont turn against him because of his background or education.
Corbyn lost the 2017 election by the way against the worst tory campaign I have ever witnessed.
I dont often use this phrase but grandad is right, this debate is a welcome distraction from the current crisis.

trisher the brexit decision has been made. We left at the beginning of the year.

If someone comes from a working-class background, goes to grammar school and university and becomes a QC and Director of Public Prosecutions through intellectual ability and hard work then that is exactly what the Labour movement should celebrate in their new leader. I have been a member for fifty years and I am delighted by the result.

Galaxy May was forecast a majority she didn't get in that election and Labour in spite of a lot of adverse publicity did well. Much has been posted on GN about how Labour would have to win back its heartlands. I just don't understand how Starmer will do that. And yes WWMK2 it has happened but there will always be a residue of feeling about it and many will not forget or forgive Starmer for his stance.

Maybe trisher but cutting your nose to spite your face doesn’t seem terribly sensible does it? Only time will tell, but I see Starmer as an excellent roll model.

I see the Sun is describing him as the millionaire Labour leader, and that from a billionaire foreign owned dubious publication. Makes you grin doesn’t it?

Loosing an election is not doing well trisher.

WWMK2 cutting your nose to spite your face doesn’t seem terribly sensible does it? This about the people who voted for Brexit despite what will happen to their jobs etc!!

I know trisher but things will have changed quite a bit after this virus has gone.

I suspect most didn’t believe that their job would be gone, that they believed the spin put out by the Leave campaign, relating to various issues and I think the economic situation will focus minds considerably.

paddyanne

'Titles are something that dont belong in a socialist party .'

I think that ship sailed long ago, if it ever existed.

Quite

It seems that Starmer is contacting unitary and city councils in person, to see what is happening with regard to the virus and what help is needed.

He is almost certainly doing that with hospital trusts as well.

Good stuff.

Rayner appears to have persuaded the government to provide vouchers to families who usually have free school meals over Easter.

She is now pressuring the government to reconsider the decision to scrap universal infant free school meals.

I agree Mamie I think he will be good for Labour and the country.

I was near to tears when he said he had seen the pain anti
semitism has caused in the Jewish Community and apologised
on behalf of the Labour Party .

Am pleased that Starmer won the leadership, he was the best option.?
Unsure about Angela Raynor though time will tell.
In a few years time a lot of people won’t be worried about the prospect of a Labour government getting into power.
I hope Starmer chooses a shadow cabinet that reflect more of his own thinking, and proves to be a strong leader , after the fiasco of the last one!

Of course Starmer’s wife and children are Jewish.

Then he would have lived with the distress anti Semitism caused

I believe that Starmer has become leader of a parliamentary Labour Party that is totally divided within itself.

The above I also believe has brought about within the broader Labour movement a total loss of confidence in the ability of the Parliamentary Party to ever deliver on any policy that would facilitate on even most basic needs of its grassroots membership.

In the above, I have always felt that the lay activists within the Labour Party affiliate membership are without doubt the most influential and powerful people in the whole Labour movement. Those activists are approximately ten to fifteen percent of the affiliate membership but are those which are on-site union representatives and formal companions at industrial hearings etc. Those persons also sit on the various union committees at district, reginal and national levels. Therefore in those roles, they are the backbone of the movement who make it run on a day to day basis.

It is those activists that have lost all confidence in the Parliamentary Labour Party with many feeling that those who sit on the right of the Parliamentary Party despise their very existence by way of the influence they hold within the Labour movement.

I believe that many of those affiliate activists would have no second thoughts if the Broader Labour Movement were to cut its ties with the fractious Parliamentary Party and carry out an appraisal and then a fresh start in regards to its political wing.

The major challenge for the new Labour Leader is to restore the respect and confidence of the Broader Labour Movement and especially it's lay activists.

The above must also be accomplished while bringing Unity to the Parliamentary Party which is something that has not been accomplished in well over a decade.

As I stated in an earlier post in this thread I wish Kier Starmer well as leader of the Parliamentary Party, but the task that will lie in front of that leadership I believe will take the power of the Greek gods to accomplish and is perhaps impossible.

The problem for Starmer will be if the Corbynite / Momentum faction of the NEC /Membership and Parliamentary Labour Party MP's which have shaped and controlled the Labour Party to the Far Left of politics can let go of their Corbyn adoration. Will they work with him?

There is an irony when those who stated emphatically they ' rejojned/returned ' to Labour when Corbyn became Leader now have had the table turned on them by new / returned members wanting to rid the party of Corbyns protégés.

I have asked for years of those who stated they were Corbyn/Momentum supporters because their politics were never Centrist or Blairite and stated they left the Labour Party through the Blair/Brown years what they would do if Corbyn ever left and there was a move back to a more centrist Labour Party and I never received a reply. It will take a lot of pragmatism on the part of many to let go of their overt belief Corbyn/McDonnell were the ' dream ticket'.

Not that I think Starmer/Rayner are Centrist as some may think but if they do prove to be shifting from the Far Left once again I can see the same old party divisions being maintained but hopefully with less venom than we have witnessed over the past few years since the Corbyn/Momentum Party took over Labour.

I reserve my judgement on Starmer as I believe him to be a flip-flopper who tells interviewers and the media what he thinks they want to hear rather than sticking to his guns but time will tell and I wish him well.

I have to say surely not Anneliese Dodds - shadow Chancellor as said up thread.

Hope he chooses a strong shadow cabinet

pogs flip flopping. Could you give me some examples please?

He seems a much strong, personality with integrity if you compare him to Johnson, whose flip flopping is a sight to behold!

Re-Dodds just a quick quote from twitter. Not to be taken seriously at the moment.