Rebecca Long-Bailey denies she is the ‘Continuity Cobynism’ candidate in Labour’s leadership election. Her public statements suggest otherwise. Having given Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership a remarkable 10/10, Long-Bailey proposes to double down on the party’s 2019 manifesto commitments and simply present them in a new way. At least members know what they’re getting with a Long-Bailey leadership: more of the same but with a different face. Had Labour not suffered its worst defeat since 1935 that might have been enough to secure her victory in April.
Instead, the disaster in December means it is Keir Starmer who looks likely to become the next Labour leader. But what does he stand for?
Having supported Andy Burnham in the 2015 leadership election and Owen Smith in his attempt to unseat Corbyn a year later, Starmer is no Corbynite. Yet he has avoided directly criticising the current party leader, having coined the mantra:
‘Don’t trash the last Labour government and don’t trash the last four years’.
Starmer wants to be seen as the candidate capable of uniting all wings of the party and so end the ‘factionalism’ which plagued the party under Corbyn.
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