John Denham is now only 7 to 1 to be the next leader of the Labour party and Mike Smithson is tipping him as the potential Gordon replacement best placed to keep the government alive in the south. So, I was interested to see how he’d do on Straight Talk which is one of the tougher, most intellectually rigorous interviews out there. (You can watch the interview here)
Denham stands up pretty well; he does a particularly nice job of arguing that there’s no contradiction between courting the Labour base and the aspirational classes. However, his understated style makes it hard to see him as a leader.
One thing worth keeping an eye on at the moment, as Matt noted just after May 1st, is which Labour politicians start offering up grand theories about how the party can reconnect with voters. By my count, this interview is Denham’s second time round this course since Brown’s May Day drubbing.
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