If you believe betting odds, Rebecca Long-Bailey is a shoo-in to be Labour leader, after the shadow chancellor John McDonnell on Sunday anointed her as the candidate most likely to build on the Corbyn/McDonnell project.
But punters may be getting ahead of themselves.
For one thing, I am told that a YouGov poll of Labour members carried out in the week of the general election delivered the same result as a YouGov poll in July – namely it showed that Keir Starmer is more popular among members than any other candidate.
Back then, 68 per cent of Labour members said Starmer would be a very or fairly good leader, and only 12 per cent said he would be a poor leader.
I am told that last week’s poll showed that Starmer’s popularity among Labour members is still of a similar magnitude.
By contrast, just 34 per cent of them in July said Long-Bailey would be a good leader, and 21 per cent thought her poor.
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