The 100/1 bet on the next Labour leader that quite a few of us have taken this last week
At 50/1 Shadow Justice Secretary, Richard Burgon, remains value to be the next Labour leader
Earlier on this week I decided to back Richard Burgon to be the next Labour leader at 100/1. My logic was that the Labour party is continually moving strongly towards the Corbynite left, as evidenced by the NEC election results and that the polls indicate that despite the disastrous personal polling that Corbyn has, and the mass no confidence that Labour MPs have in Corbyn, current Labour members are on course to re-elect Corbyn.
I’m also coming to the conclusion that not even a general election defeat will make the Corbynistas doubt their man, strategy, or the project. But at some stage Corbyn will eventually stand down as leader, and my betting strategy is now to lay anyone who isn’t a Corbynite and start backing those on team Corbyn.
So why back Leeds East MP Richard Burgon? He’s been very prominent in publicly and passionately defending Corbyn and his supporters, a few weeks ago, Burgon said ‘Corbyn supporters must not be portrayed as thugs.’ and also saying ‘I have been bullied by anti-Corbyn MPs’, this is the sort of stuff that will earn him plaudits from Corbyn’s supporters.
With the ideological purity of someone who regularly attended ‘communist events across the North’ coupled with his loyalty to Corbyn and the Corbyn project, that should appeal to those that currently make up a majority of Labour members, so Richard Burgon represents value, even at 50/1. Loyalty might just be Burgon’s secret weapon to becoming Labour leader.
He may also do very well in his job as Shadow Justice Secretary/Shadow Lord Chancelor, the current Justice Secretary & Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, is someone without a legal background, which should theoretically give an advantage to the Cambridge educated lawyer Richard Burgon. A well performing Shadow Cabinet minister may well be a rare, if not unique, occurrence in this parliament, especially when other compared to Burgon’s Mao’s little red book throwing colleagues.
But before you follow my advice, full disclosure, when Burgon’s price started to tumble earlier on this week, Ladbrokes’ politics team tweeted this, click on the tweet and look at the replies underneath, they aren’t very complimentary towards Mr Burgon.
Some people have been backing @RichardBurgon at 100/1 to be next Labour leader. Now 50/1.https://t.co/nF1Ld9LOFV pic.twitter.com/yVl7wY5igd
— Ladbrokes Politics (@LadPolitics) August 9, 2016