Labour leadership contest 2020

Perhaps dull but electable is just what Labour needs if it wishes to be a political party and not a movement.

That chart is nuts. RLB is the candidate of choice for ideologues.

There's this one as well. Blair being the most unfavourable, Kinnock second.

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Rumours are KS' nickname is shagger and the lawyer in Bridget Jones' Diary was based on him.

What more do you want?

Who are the 24% with a favourable view of Ramsay MacDonald?

60% think "do they mean Angela Lansbury?"

They’re really bloody sure about Blair, aren’t they? Disappointing to see 25% with no opinion about John Smith.

Younger people in the membership, I guess. John Smith died when I was 13, and I barely remember him. I do recall that he was well-liked and wore glasses, but I couldn't tell you anything else about him without consulting Wikipedia. I'm almost 40, hardly young, and I'd not really expect most Labour members younger than me to be au fait with his political history.

On the other hand, I grew up with Blair, and people my age and a little younger have had a long time to form an opinion of him. I don't think that chart is very surprising. There's no entrance exam on the history of the Labour party that you need to pass before joining!

Why should people have a more favourable opinion of Blair? 37% favourable seems pretty high tbh, and I think is probably higher than where the nation would put him if polled generally.

I think is probably higher than where the nation would put him if polled generally.

That's an interesting point, I'd probably expect the reverse to be true. Anyone seen figures on this?

YouGov keeps their finger on this particular pulse. 19% favourable. More people on the fence with a 23% neutral / don't know.

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Not saying it should be more favourable (it definitely shouldn’t), just that there is barely anyone who doesn’t have an opinion, when 25% don’t seem to know who his immediate predecessor was.

just that there is barely anyone who doesn’t have an opinion, when 25% don’t seem to know who his immediate predecessor was.

It's understandable; in contrast to Blair, Smith never held power and was leader for two years before his death. He never had a chance to piss anyone off, except maybe the unions.

It would be interesting to know the age representation in that sample.

Imagine the howls of outrage from the 'socialist' twitterati if any of the other candidates had worked on NHS PFIs.

19% favourable.

I suppose I expected the general public to like him more than members, because Labour members are always so keen to vociferously trash their own party's record, their hatred of him seems more endemic. The general public just hate him more privately.

I wonder if the new leadership could somehow separate the Blair toxicity from those years of government, so that sure start, free school meals, the minimum wage, civil partnerships etc etc could be celebrated as achievements to be built on rather than trashed.

Controversial opinion: reckon there is an increasingly serious chance of Nandy pipping RLB to second.

Hopefully. She looks outstanding and the leader that Labour has lacked for years

Some combination of Nandy and Starmer reminiscent of the Blair/Brown partnership (while it worked!) would be very interesting, I think.

Labour coup 2020?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rebecca-long-bailey-labour-leadership-rules-broken-corbyn-election-latest-a9300891.html

I was beginning to come round to RLB, in the sense she seemed out of her depth but had some redeeming qualities. Sadly, it turns out she is a deluded corbynite axe grinder:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rebecca-long-bailey-says-idea-voters-rejected-socialism-is-bollocks_uk_5e2e22bcc5b6779e9c358975

I mean, where to begin.

I can't be bothered to read it all - it's too annoying. However, she's saying something about "months and months of work" on a shared drive, that someone who didn't like her walked off with.

Whatever else, the lack of professionalism is absurd.

I can’t believe that was written and edited by a human. Is huff post AI content now?

Hah yeah that is a messsss

The story will be seen as a thinly veiled attack on her rivals Lisa Nandy, who resigned as shadow energy secretary, and Keir Starmer, who resigned as shadow home office minister.

Very veiled I'd say, I've no idea what relevance it has to them.

Interesting to follow the CLP nominations. KS is almost double RLB, but i would say he has an even greater advantage because he is winning most in the SE where the membership is disproportionately located (around half). My anecdotal poll of the half a dozen corbynites i know personally is, generally speaking, one of apathy resulting from difficulty processing the scale of defeat.

Angela Rayner (who i really like) almost certain to be deputy.

The most peculiar result so far: Leeds North CLP nominating Starmer and Burgon.