Katy Balls Katy Balls

Is the Labour leadership contest already a done deal?

Labour’s leadership contest has been attracting less and less media interest as it goes on. Despite this, Jeremy Corbyn’s successor won’t be announced until April so there’s still over a month of the contest to go. Part of the reason for the lack of excitement is a growing sense that it isn’t really a contest anymore; barring a major upset, Keir Starmer will be the victor. Starmer has a significant lead on Constituency Labour party nominations at 280, to Rebecca Long-Bailey’s 132 (as of the weekend). And he even won in Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington constituency.

His main rival Long-Bailey’s campaign is yet to achieve the levels of excitement that Corbyn’s triggered in 2015. Meanwhile Lisa Nandy appears to be generating more attention in Westminster than across the country – with a respectable 56 CLP nominations.

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