All the Labour deputy leader candidates say they will serve under Corbyn
I'm taking this to mean the Deputy Leader candidates think Corbyn's going to win pic.twitter.com/Hgi9YcPLA7
— TSE (@TSEofPB) August 8, 2015
Are the deputy leader candidates preparing for a Corbyn victory?
Looking at the front page of the Independent on Sunday, I suspect most of the focus will be on Jeremy Corbyn’s plans to bring back clause IV, but the most interesting aspect of that front page for me is all of the deputy leader candidates saying they will serve under Jeremy Corbyn if he becomes Labour leader.
Angela Eagle, the Shadow Leader of the Commons, running for the deputy leadership, told The Independent on Sunday that if Mr Corbyn won, the party, including its top MPs, would have to “shut up†and recognise that he was the democratically elected leader. She warned that any MPs plotting a coup against Mr Corbyn were following a “recipe for disasterâ€.
She said her experience as a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee and policy forum meant she could unite the party in turbulent times. Her fellow contenders Caroline Flint, Stella Creasy, Ben Bradshaw and Tom Watson said that they, too, would serve under Mr Corbyn.
This provides a stark contrast to the likes of Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and other shadow cabinet ministers who have said they won’t serve in the shadow cabinet were Corbyn to become leader.
My initial thought was this is the deputy leadership contenders thinking Corbyn will win, and it will not help them win the deputy leadership by appearing to be anti-Corbyn. Put simply they see no advantage from opposing Corbyn and lots of potential benefits of appearing to be pro-Corbyn, and this is their way of attracting support from the electorate in this election.
This may well be a case of me reading too much into this announcement by the deputy leader candidates, but Matt Singh who runs the numbercruncher website, pointed out last night that all deputy candidates will have huge amounts of their own data, this should be taken very seriously.
With the ballot papers going out this week, this is proving to be a fascinating election and very difficult to predict.