Labor leadership race begins as senior figures back Rebecca Long-Bailey – The Guardian, Theguardian.com
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The starting gun has been fired on the race to succeedJeremy Corbynas Labor leader, as the party became engulfed in a bitter row about whether its Brexit position or leadership were mainly to blame for last week’s election disaster.
Laborconfirmed on Sunday night that Corbyn had asked for a leadership process to elect his successor by the end of March, meaning he will carry on in post and opposing Boris Johnson across the dispatch box for more than three months.
The party’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, wrote to the national executive committee to say a full timetable for the leadership contest would be agreed, with a recommended start date of January 7.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, and Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, threw their weight behind their long-term ally Rebecca Long-Bailey for the top job while blaming Brexit for the party losing support across the north and Midlands.
With endorsement from the Corbynite wing of the party, Long-Bailey is now the favorite for the job even though she has not formally declared her candidacy.
But a large field of mostly female contenders – including Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips, Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper and Emily Thornberry – are also mulling whether to throw their hats into the ring, with wildly different assessments of what went wrong for the party.
Diane Abbott, another leading labor woman, ruled herself out of the race, telling the Guardian it was important that whoever was the new leader was able to stand up to “all the attacks that will come from Johnson and Donald Trump ”.
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has long been considered another favorite but many MPs are keen to see a woman lead the party for the first time in its history. Both Starmer and Thornberry played a key role in pushing labor towards a second referendum position on Brexit and both represent north London seats, and some MPs are already arguing against either getting the job for those reasons.
Caroline Flint, a former minister who lost her Don Valley seat, said Long-Bailey and Nandy were the only candidates worth considering as they had not been complicit in pushing the party towards a more remain position. Speaking on Sky News, she then launched an attack on Thornberry in particular, claiming the shadow foreign secretary had told a colleague: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours.”
Thornberry, who has not yet confirmed whether she is running, hit back, saying: “This is a total and utter lie. I have never said this to anyone, nor anything like it, and I hope, needless to say, it is not something I would ever think. ”She is understood to be consulting lawyers about the allegation.
McDonnell said on Sunday that he wanted to see a woman lead the party, and preferably someone from outside London. He said Long-Bailey “could be a brilliant leader” and distinguished others including Dawn Butler, the shadow equalities minister, and Rayner, who could be part of a “terrific team”.
“You know my view, I think Becky Long-Bailey’s done a great job. But you’ve got a team there. You’ve got a real team, ”he said.
McDonnell, who ran Labor’s election campaign, issued the first big apology from a senior party figure for its performance.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s on me. Let’s take it on the chin. I own this disaster, so I apologise. I apologise to all those wonderful Labor MPs that lost their seats, who worked so hard. I apologise to all our campaigners. But most of all, I apologise to those people who desperately need a Labor government. And, yes, you know, if anyone’s to blame it is me, full stop. ”
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