Given that Labour has just faced its worst electoral defeat, arguably since 1935, it always looked odd – and dangerous for the Opposition – that the final run-off might have been between two candidates, Sir Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey, whose hands were well and truly in the blood of that disaster, as part of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
So the decision of the big GMB union to endorse Lisa Nandy will make for a more interesting contest and a proper choice for Labour members.
Nandy’s most important claim to be leader is she is the only candidate to have argued as a backbencher that Labour should have worked seriously to agree a Brexit deal with ex-PM Theresa May.
It is highly likely that had Corbyn achieved such a deal, the Tory party would have torn itself apart – creating conditions in which Labour might even have won the subsequent election.
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